AXA natural capital strategy raises €500m

AXA IM Alts has launched a new natural capital strategy which has received €500 million in commitments from existing investors.

The strategy will target investments that can address climate change and biodiversity loss by trying to protect “vulnerable or high-value natural habitats” from deforestation, a statement said. AXA did not return messages seeking further detail.

The firm will also look to finance solutions that can address the drivers of deforestation and “improve forest conservation efforts, quantified through the issuance of voluntary carbon credits,” the statement added.

AXA IM Alts has also made three appointments to its natural capital team, with Adam Gibbon, Edoardo Cavallo and Camila Alva Estabridis joining the business.

AXA group chief Investment officer Jean-Baptiste Tricot commented: “We have committed to investing €1.5 billion to support sustainable forest management, including this latest €500 million in reforestation projects in emerging countries, enabling a total of 25 megatons of carbon dioxide to be captured or avoided each year, as part of our net-zero commitments.”

The firm launched the AXA Impact Climate and Biodiversity Strategy in 2019, which has raised €350 million to date and deployed more than €100 million equities, carbon-backed bonds and a project debt facility.

AXA has also invested in Fundaeco, a specialist in conservation activities in protected forest areas in Central America, as well as Forest Carbon, which focuses on conserving and restoring degraded peatland, tropical forests, and wetland ecosystems across Indonesia.

The firm became a founding shareholder in French start-up The Shared Wood Company at the start of the year, which will develop carbon offset projects across Africa, Latin America and Europe.

AXA IM Alts has more than €190 billion of assets under management.