At AXA IM, our green bond strategy is actively managed with a Sustainable Investment objective, contributing to financing of the energy and ecology transition and demonstrating a positive environmental impact. It is a purist approach which combines our extensive resources in global, active fixed income investing with our proprietary green bond framework and ESG scoring methodology.

Not all green bonds are equal, and it is essential to have a rigorous approach to ensure a real environmental benefit and avoid supporting any ‘green-washing’. At AXA IM, we have developed our own framework for assessment. This framework not only drives responsible investments towards authentic green projects but also looks to raise the standards of the whole market. Our analysts meet many issuers to discuss their businesses and to explain our framework. We also often use these opportunities to engage the issuers by sharing market best practices and areas where they can strengthen their sustainable financing approach. Our goal is to highlight what we expect from them in terms of their issuance, and if necessary, help them improve their broader sustainability related strategy.

The master fund (AXA WF ACT Green Bonds) strategy falls in within our “ACT” range of funds (Art. 9, based on the new European SFDR regulation). These portfolios are designed with the purpose of supporting the transition to a more sustainable economy and thus where investment decisions are guided by ESG themes and are positive and measurable image.png 502.93 KBThe green bonds market offers a tangible and transparent route to investing in the transition to the low-carbon economy. In the context of rising climate awareness and the interest in credible solutions, the launch and the development of the Green Bonds strategy reflects AXA IM’s engagement towards containing climate change and supporting the growth of the green bonds market. Our responsible investment analysts have defined a proprietary Green Bond framework inspired on the Green Bond Principles (GBP) and the Climate Bond Initiative (CBI). Our proprietary Green Bond framework aims at assessing the environmental quality of the project, its consistency with the issuer’s environmental strategy and the actual use of proceeds from the bond, while performing an ongoing monitoring and reporting on the environmental impact of the financed projects. 

Please also see pages 23-25 of the transparency guide Appendix D