PARIS (Reuters) – AXA <AXAF.PA>, France’s biggest insurer, extended its climate change policy to its recently-acquired XL division, which will result in a negative impact on its revenues.
AXA said XL will stop insuring projects related to the construction of coal-fired power plants and the extraction of tar sands.
The move will mean a revenue loss of about 100 million euros (88.59 million pounds) for XL, which would mainly occur in 2020.
“100 million euros is a lot of money but, when you take into account AXA’s world revenue, this is something we can absorb in terms of activity growth,” said Jad Ariss, AXA’s head of public affairs and corporate responsibility.
XL will also – similar to its parent AXA – stop investing in assets related to coal and tar sands. The company will sell 660 million euros worth of financial assets starting in 2019, said Ariss.
XL will also refrain from investing in assets related to the tobacco industry and assets related to chemical and biological weapons, cluster bombs or anti-personnel mines, he added.
(Reporting by Matthieu Protard and Inti Landauro; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta)
