Corporate Citizenship

At AXIS, our purpose is clear: by helping people and organizations around the world to manage risk, we give them the confidence to pursue their goals and ambitions.

Our Corporate Citizenship program, designed to address environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors and focusing on issues such as climate change, sustainability, and diversity and inclusion (D&I), is one of many ways we help advance this purpose.

Environment – Protecting Our Planet

AXIS is helping to support the transition to a low-carbon economy through our underwriting, our operations, and our industry advocacy. In 2021, we continued to be a leading insurer of renewable energy projects such as wind, solar, and battery energy storage. After introducing progressive exclusion policies relating to thermal coal and oil sands, we expanded this policy by including restrictions in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, while also committing to phase out all thermal coal business from our insurance, facultative reinsurance and investment portfolios by 2030 in OECD countries and the European Union, and by 2040 globally. We also committed to invest $20 million in BlackRock’s Climate Finance Partnership, a fund focused on renewable energy projects in emerging markets.

We continued to track our own greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions; we disclosed the measured emissions for the first time in 2021, and are working to set measurable goals for reducing our carbon footprint. In 2021 we launched an internal Environment Working Group focused on climate risks – a cross-jurisdictional group of AXIS colleagues that provide input into climate-related aspects of our operations, underwriting and investment. This group supplements our Climate Change Working Group, which leads research and knowledge-sharing of climate change data across groups and committees at AXIS.

Also in 2021, we submitted our first progress reports on our commitment to uphold the Principles for Sustainable Insurance and the UN Global Compact. In addition, we joined the Insurance Taskforce of the Sustainable Markets Initiative, convened by His Royal Highness, the Prince of Wales, and led by Lloyd’s, which aims to facilitate climate initiatives by the industry. We also continued our work with the Insurance Development Forum (IDF), which aims to optimize and extend the use of insurance to build greater resilience and protection for communities vulnerable to disasters and their associated economic shocks. To contribute to research on climate risks, AXIS collaborated with scholars from the University of Illinois, The Brookings Institution, and others on research projects covering subjects such as the impact of climate change on hurricane risk as well as U.S. agriculture.

Diversity – Fostering Equity and Inclusion

Ensuring a diverse and inclusive workforce – with a breadth of backgrounds, experiences and perspectives – is the best way to attract, retain and cultivate the talented people we need to operate in a complex and fast-changing marketplace. Guided by the input of our staff-led D&I Council and Advocates, we continued to scale up our D&I efforts, applying a five-part approach: employee education; recruitment and mobility; career development to support diverse colleagues; internal measurement of recruitment, growth and retention; and advocacy for D&I industry and community initiatives.

In the area of recruitment, mobility and career development, we are focused on building diverse interview slates, identifying career opportunities for existing employees, and enhancing managers’ effectiveness at recruiting diverse candidates. To track our progress, we monitor gender and diverse representation across all levels of the Company – from new hires to internal promotions – and in 2021, we made progress in moving the needle towards our goals. We implemented a number of initiatives to prepare internal candidates for mobility opportunities such as hosting a Global Mentoring Event, launching a leadership coaching program with 50% diverse representation, and enrolling several of our women colleagues in a 12-month “Emerging Leaders” program. In the U.K., we piloted a program with a focus on bringing women back into the workforce.

To help foster an inclusive culture, AXIS team members continue to receive training on topics such as diversity awareness and unconscious bias. In 2021, AXIS launched five Employee Resource Groups to support women, ethnically diverse employees, parents, veterans, and members of the LGBTQ+ community. We also launched a Supplier Diversity Policy designed to broaden and diversify our supplier base and updated our Human Rights Policy to restrict insurance coverage on projects undertaken on indigenous territories without Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC). In addition, AXIS hosted a forum on Mental Health and Wellness, our second annual global D&I education forum.

In 2021 AXIS scaled up our engagement in the Dive In festival, an insurance industry initiative to encourage diversity and inclusion, by becoming a Global Festival Partner. We also are pleased to note that AXIS was recognized in the Bloomberg Gender Equality Index for both 2021 and 2022, and received the “5-Star Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Award” from Insurance Business America, which showcases companies in the (re)insurance industry that demonstrate effective D&I programs.

Philanthropy – Investing in Our Communities

Our philanthropic efforts are carried out on global, local, and individual levels. Overall, we assisted almost 300 organizations in 2021, across a range of areas including health, education, social services, and the environment.

Over the past two years, a specific focus has been on alleviating the impact of COVID-19, and we supported several global organizations working to bring vaccines to underserved populations.

We once again hosted our annual AXIS Global Giving Rally, with AXIS colleagues hosting 51 philanthropic events across the world over a three-month period. Due to COVID-19, most activities were virtual such as the Missing Maps project for Doctors Without Borders in which AXIS colleagues mapped parts of the world most vulnerable to humanitarian crises. For Adara, an international organization dedicated to improving health and education in communities of extreme poverty, our colleagues helped build a virtual volunteer experience.

On a regional level, we empower staff to identify and build deep relationships with local organizations, with a focus on ensuring that their funding reaches those most in need. Around the globe, we have 18 Local Philanthropy Committees that have the authority to allocate volunteer and financial resources in their communities. In 2021, our Local Committees facilitated philanthropic donations to over 100 community organizations.

At the individual level, AXIS matches our colleagues’ donations to any certified charity, up to $1,000. And in celebration of our 20th Anniversary, we awarded one employee $20,000 to donate to their charity of choice. In total, AXIS matched over 200 gifts to organizations selected by our colleagues.

Our Citizenship initiatives earned us the top ranking in the category of overall commitment to ESG in The Insurer’s inaugural Lloyd’s ESG survey, a #5 ranking out of 44 evaluated insurance companies in JUST Capital’s 2022 Rankings of America’s Most JUST Companies, recognition as one of Achievers’ 50 Most Engaged Organizations, and the Cigna Well-being Award for our workplace wellness program. Recognizing there is more that we must do, we are proud of the progress we’ve made in growing our Corporate Citizenship program and look forward continuing to build on these efforts in the years to come.