Sustainable investment: AXA Climate supports FnB Private Equity for its Article 9 fund launch.
Paris, 3 October 2023 – AXA Climate supports FnB Private Equity as they embark on their Article 9 fund launch. This initiative is part of their commitment to foster a climate strategy that accelerates the ecological transition of French and European SMEs within the agri-food sector.
Sustainable investment to support the transition of the agri-food sector
The agri-food sector is twice as concerned by the challenges of climate change: on one hand, its activities have an impact on the environment. On the other hand, it is itself directly exposed to the effects of climate change. For instance, in France in 2022, the heatwaves in July and September led to a 20% drop in dairy production. To combat these effects, stakeholders in the agri-food industry need to decarbonize their value chain and make far-reaching changes in their practices to enhance crop resilience and improve soil quality.
To contribute to addressing these challenges, FnB Private Equity supports its portfolio companies – SMEs in the agri- food sector – in their food, environmental, and social transitions. Among tis recent investments are the iconic mashed potatoes company Mousline and Cafés Légal. FnB Private Equity’s investments are being made as part of the launch of an “Article 9”1 labelled fund which will support companies committed to a decarbonization path in line with the national low-carbon strategy or aligned with the goals of the Paris Agreement.
A strong, long-term partnership serving a climate strategy
To enable FnB Private Equity to achieve its sustainability objectives and meet the requirements of the Article 9 classification, AXA Climate has proposed several relevant actions to be implemented:
– Carrying out a carbon assessment for all portfolio companies.
1 European Regulation (EU) 2019/2088, known as Sustainable Finance Disclosure (SFDR), classifies funds according to their ability to take social and/or environmental criteria into account. Those covered by Article 9 are considered to be the most ambitious.
– Definition of a carbon footprint reduction target for each investment made by the fund, based on decarbonization scenarios such as the Science-based targets initiative or the national low- carbon strategy.
– Assessing the exposure and vulnerability of businesses and their activities to physical climate risks.
– Supporting companies in developing their mitigation and adaptation strategies.
This collaboration has also enabled FnB Private Equity to identify the social and environmental actions to be implemented as part of an ambitious climate strategy.
Olivier Marchand, Chairman of FnB Private Equity, states: “In line with its status as a company with a mission, and as part of the process of raising a new Article 9 fund, we have decided to formalize a decarbonization pathway for FnB with the help of AXA Climate, to be implemented in conjunction with all the companies in the portfolio. We have already initiated a systematic GHG assessment of all the companies and have launched a training program for all employees of the companies and for FnB Private Equity with the help of AXA Climate’s Climate School.”
Antoine Denoix, CEO of AXA Climate, adds: “The climate transition is a long journey, from defining a climate strategy to measuring greenhouse gasses emissions and taking climate risks into account. As a result, we believe that forging strong, long-term partnerships among stakeholders is essential for the successful implementation of these strategies, as is the case with FnB Private Equity.”
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