French global insurer Axa says 2021 is “a key year for biodiversity” and wants insurers to act in the same way as they have over climate change.

CEO Thomas Buberl says Axa’s decision to restrict coal business underwriting some years ago “was a pioneering move then, but it has become rather mainstream today”.

“We view the biodiversity challenge as a natural extension of our climate efforts, since the two crises are interconnected,” he said.

Axa recently helped to launch a new taskforce on nature-related financial disclosures, which has a strong focus on biodiversity.

It aims to build upon the success of the taskforce on climate-related financial disclosures, which Mr Buberl says was instrumental in this “mainstreaming” of the issue of climate-related financial risks.

The new taskforce of around 30 members has committed to delivering a framework by 2023 for organisations to report and act on evolving nature-related risks.

In its sixth Climate Report, Axa says it has significantly expanded its analysis of climate-related property insurance impacts, better explaining the relationship between physical hazard, asset exposure, and vulnerability.

It is also researching what it says is the “relatively virgin territory of climate-related litigation risks”.

“We are first and foremost an insurer, and climate change is a concern on both the asset and liability side,” Mr Buberl said.

Axa Chairman Denis Duverne acknowledged “tricky” dilemmas and “stranded assets” from insurers’ actions over coal.

“While a coal plant may well present an investment risk, it is often a perfectly profitable asset to underwrite from a property insurance perspective, with a good claims history – unlike offshore windfarms,” he said. “We simply cannot replicate the investment business case for climate action into our insurance business.”

Axa – which chairs a new Net-Zero Insurance Alliance (NZIA) with Allianz, Aviva, Munich Re, SCOR, Swiss Re and Zurich to accelerate the transition to a net-zero emissions economy – says the window for action on climate change is closing fast and “there is no plan B.”

“Our mindset must evolve faster than climate change.”