Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability at AXA IM Select
In AXA IM Select we're committed to adopting a sustainable workplace. Not only do we believe in the importance of investing responsibly, but we are constantly striving to find a more sustainable way of working and embed it within our company culture.
We recognise that we have an important part to play in shaping the future for investors, employees and wider society. As a result, we have adopted a corporate responsibility strategy that has a positive impact on the environment and society.
We have also adopted AXA Group's purpose and ambitions into strategies for corporate social responsibility, as well as diversity and inclusion. **Employee engagement: We encourage all our employees to give back to their communities by supporting a range of charities, participating in corporate responsibility events and awareness activities, all of which are coordinated by our network of employee champions.
Environment
AXA, as a responsible company, is committed to address climate change through its core operations. AXA IM Select aims to achieve a 25% reduction its carbon footprint by 2025. AXA IM Select has significantly reduced its emissions by moving to eco-friendly offices and promoting sustainable business travel.
Our global sustainable best practices:
Business travel
If the business trip is accessible by train for a duration of 3hrs 30 minutes or less, then train must be taken. We have also put in place travel guidelines and policies to promote sustainable business travel and commuting.
Building Management
We’ve moved to more energy efficient buildings and implemented a flexible working approach.
Car fleet
Where possible and feasible, we aim to use more sustainable means of travel. In addition, we have introduced new car policies that promotes the use of electric and hybrid vehicles.
Paperless Approach
We have already moved to a paperless approach in our offices and we use carbon neutral paper in most offices.
Green IT
We promote eco-gestures to reduce our digital pollution. This includes the use cloud based apps, encouraging employees to clean their mailboxes and optimizing the use of their browsers to name a few.
Digital Sustainability
By dimming monitors from 100% to 70%, you can save up to 20% of the energy the monitor uses. To reduce our digital carbon footprint in this area, we have set out a guide of good practice.
Diversity and inclusion
Gender equality
At AXA IM Select, we are committed to gender equality by reviewing our processes and practices, setting clear goals towards gender balance and raising awareness on gender related topics.
Disability
AXA IM Select acts to ensure the health, safety and wellbeing of all our employees. We support initiatives towards disability both internally and externally.
Pride
At AXA IM Select we want all employees to bring their whole self to work by supporting pride initiatives, giving opportunities to employees to share their stories and act on what matters to them.
Employee engagement
La Maison Des Femmes is a unique place of care for women in difficulty or victims of violence. It is supported by a team of committed professionals that help women receive help and rebuild their lives both physically and psychologically.
In 2021, we donated €80,000 to la Maison des femmes and a further €80,000 in 2022, in partnership with a Distribution & Marketing initiative.
Every Child Online is an ambitious start-up charity; their mission is to tackle digital poverty and improve the online and digital education of our children and young people.
Laptop disposal can contribute to a mounting pile of waste and as a business committed to reducing our environmental footprint. 200 working laptops were donated to the charity in 2022.
The lockdown highlighted that many children were unable to access online learning due to no computer and the purpose of the charity is to get ‘Every Child Online’. They receive decommissioned laptops/computers/tablets from numerous businesses and secondary school students are given the opportunity to develop their skills by learning to refurbish and upload a new operating system and relevant applications onto the machines.
When the laptops reach a new status to be used again, they are donated to local schools. So, something that was destined for disposal is now on its way to a student who can continue their learning at home.
TRIBE is a UK based charity that raises funds to fight against modern slavery and human trafficking.
In September 2021, Architas employees took part in the annual AXA Week for Good, participating in a variety of activities to make a positive impact on society and on our planet. Among the activities was the “Chase the Sun challenge”, where colleagues walked, run or cycled to raise funds for Tribe Foundation. A total of 852 km was covered and an amount of £10,000 was raised to support the work of Tribe Foundation: empowering the survivors and fighting for freedom for all.
"During the pandemic, the risk of modern slavery has increased and traffickers have found new ways to exploit vulnerable people across our communities. It is therefore more important than ever to increase public understanding of the issue." Dame Sara Thornton, Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner.
The GoodPlanet Foundation was created and is chaired by Yann Arthus-Bertrand, renowned photojournalist, with the aim of raising public awareness on environmental issues and environmental protection.
In the last week of June 2022 the whole of the Architas business got involved in the Week for Good – a global initiative dedicated to employee engagement. The 2022 edition of the AXA Week for Good was focused on climate change and biodiversity and saw many of our employees take part in events, workshops and challenges, both locally and globally.
Colleagues offered their time and skills to support their local community and their environment – and the results were spectacular!
Chase the Sun challenge – which across 2 days saw Architas team collectively travel 860 kilometres in distance and – including Architas’s sponsorship of €1,400 – raise €10,000 for the Good Planet Foundation!
In 2022, Architas partnered JA Worldwide, a youth serving NGO. As part of this partnership, we organised a Global Innovation Challenge called JA’s Got Talent. Nearly 100 students across Indonesia, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates submitted submitted their ideas on how they could improve sustainability in their local communities.
Architas colleagues got involved through a series of judging panels and voting sessions, revealing the winners during the #AXAWeekforGood which was a company-wide initiative dedicated to employee engagement and philanthropy.
Congratulations to the winning teams:
Asia Pacific winner: Trash Cash (Indonesia) proposed creating a vending machine that encourages people to properly dispose of trash by providing points that can be redeemed for discounts on products.
EMEA winner: Dark Phantoms (United Arab Emirates) proposed creating an app that encourages people to reduce their environmental impact from energy consumption and transportation by providing points that can be redeemed for products.