In 2019, AXA put $175 million into an experiment that was harder to measure than it first appeared. The idea was not simply to invest in companies that called themselves green. AXA wanted private capital to go toward projects dealing with climate change and biodiversity loss, while still pursuing market-rate financial returns.
Within the first year, $41.5 million had been committed. The money was already moving into very different places and problems: agroforestry in Madagascar, groundwater and habitat conservation in California, and products designed to make vulnerable communities more resilient to climate-related disruption.
