The 2017 Dow Jones Sustainability Index – recognised globally for its assessment of leading companies, based on corporate economic, environmental and social factors – has been published.
And we’re proud to report that AXA has climbed from number 5 to number 2 in the insurance industry rankings – our best performance ever, and one which puts us in the top 1% of sustainable companies worldwide.
“We want to empower people to have a better life.”
What’s made the difference is the way we’ve looked for ways to make a positive difference to people’s lives in everything we do; both in the way we conduct our business and beyond that, through our work in the community.
We scored particularly highly on these environmental and social criteria:
- Customer Relationship Management Our digital marketing strategy stood out here, along with all the steps we’ve taken to improve our customers’ experience.
- Business Risks and Opportunities Our underwriting processes were recognised for including an analysis of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) risks.
- Human Capital Development There was a significant improvement in this area, reflecting the great advances we’ve made in employee training and personal development.
- Financial Inclusion In 2016, we launched an Emerging Customers Initiative to develop specific offers to protect the rising middle class in emerging countries.
“We aim to do good, and make a difference. Not just because it makes good business sense but because it is the right thing to do.”
We were also given a high rating for our corporate responsibility activity, which involves fundraising and voluntary work for both large national charities and small, local projects.
(Take a look at some of the projects we support and you’ll soon see that the drive to contribute to a better, safer world comes from all of our people; it’s an integral part of our culture.)
But of course, we’re not going to settle for second place in the Dow Jones rankings. That’s not in our nature and we’re eagerly anticipating the 2018 Dow Jones rankings in the autumn.
And the fact that AXA UK is currently within the top five rankings in our own AXA internal global sustainability index serves as a further spur.
We created this internal index, based on the Dow Jones model, to inspire all our businesses around the world to enable us to become the most sustainable insurance business globally. The results on our internal index for 2018 are due out in the first half of 2019 and we can hardly wait.
Because as ever, we’re aiming for the top.
Watch this space.
