AXA scraps coal holdings

AXA will scrap holdings in coal companies because of concerns about climate change, broadening support for the fossil-fuel divestment movement to a major mainstream investor.

Axa SA Chief Executive Officer Henri de Castries said he's working to sell EUR500 million of coal assets and triple "green investments" to EUR3 billion by 2020. He joined investors in Paris saying companies must act to contain global warming.

"There is one thing which is absolutely clear: If the warming goes beyond 2 degrees, it's going to become tougher and tougher and probably impossible" for insurers to cope with damage to the environment, De Castries said in an interview on Bloomberg Television in Paris. "Insurers are the mirrors of what happens in the economy and in the society. We try to increase what we do on the prevention side."