AXA : Sustainability Bond Framework

March 2021

Sustainability

Bond

Framework

Contents

1.	Introduction....................................................................................................................................	1
	1.1	AXA's Purpose .........................................................................................................................	1
	1.2	AXA's Sustainability Strategy ...................................................................................................	2
	1.2.1	Climate change and biodiversity.....................................................................................	2
	1.2.2	Inclusive Protection .........................................................................................................	4
	1.3	Responsible Investment Strategy and Performance ...............................................................	5
	1.3.1	Responsible Investment Strategy....................................................................................	5
	1.3.2	ESG Performance.............................................................................................................	7
	1.4	Rationale for a Sustainability Bond Issuance ...........................................................................	7
2.	Sustainability Bond Framework.....................................................................................................	8
	2.1	Use of Proceeds.......................................................................................................................	9
	2.2	Process for Project Evaluation and Selection ........................................................................	15
	2.3	Management of Proceeds .....................................................................................................	16
	2.4	Reporting...............................................................................................................................	17
	2.4.1	Allocation reporting ......................................................................................................	17
	2.4.2	Impact reporting ...........................................................................................................	18
3.	External Review............................................................................................................................	20
	3.1	Second-PartyOpinion............................................................................................................	20
	3.2	External Audit........................................................................................................................	20
4.	Disclaimer .....................................................................................................................................	21

AXA SUSTAINABILITY BOND FRAMEWORK

1. Introduction

AXA SA (the "Company") is the holding company of the AXA Group ("AXA" or the "Group"), a worldwide leader in insurance and asset management, with 153,000 employees serving 105 million clients in 54 countries and €1,032 billion in assets under management as of December 31, 20201.

AXA operates primarily in five hubs: France, Europe, Asia, AXA XL and International (including Middle East, Latin America and Africa). AXA's main operating activities are Life & Savings, Property & Casualty, Health and Asset Management. In addition, the Group is composed of various companies conducting certain non-operating and banking activities. Its offering covers a broad range of products including motor, household, property and general liability insurance, banking, savings vehicles and other investment-based products for both Personal/Individual and Commercial/Group customers, as well as health, protection and retirement products for individual or professional customers.

AXA's business is to protect people, goods and assets over the long-term, by better understanding, selecting, quantifying and managing risks.

Operating at the intersection of the economy, finance and society as a whole, AXA's businesses are vectors of innovation, wealth creation and sustainable growth. Indeed, the protection offered by insurance encourages innovation, risk-taking and borrowing, which contributes not only to growth but also to the stability of economic cycles. In this way, AXA contributes to preserving the global financial system through sound risk management and investment proposals with robust and stable returns. Moreover, the collectivisation and mutualisation of risks and the social protection offered by life insurance and micro insurance generate social cohesion. AXA's contributions support not only global economic growth, but also social stability in line with its ambition of "Empowering people to live better". This approach is fundamental to AXA's business and guides its Sustainability Strategy.

1.1 AXA's Purpose

AXA's purpose, "Act for human progress by protecting what matters", was announced at AXA's Shareholders' Meeting in June 2020. The formulation of AXA's purpose was the result of extensive consultation with employees across AXA's offices.

Protection has always been at the core of AXA's business, helping individuals, businesses and societies to thrive. And AXA has always been a leader, an innovator and an entrepreneurial company, fostering progress in all its dimensions. AXA's purpose also ties back to the Group's roots. From the outset, AXA has been committed to acting as a force for collective good. From solidarity-based actions with AXA

• including €597 billion of General Account assets

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AXA SUSTAINABILITY BOND FRAMEWORK

Hearts In Action to work on prevention issues with the AXA Research Fund and the fight against climate change, AXA has always been attentive to its social environment and embraced its responsibility as an insurer: taking action upstream in order to better understand risks, with one goal in mind: ensuring better protection.

1.2 AXA's Sustainability Strategy

AXA's Sustainability Strategy is a key driver of employee engagement, customer trust and brand image. It is also a lever for the management of risks and opportunities: it enables AXA to reduce certain operational costs and risks, while providing market opportunities in emerging business segments or driving innovation by taking better account of social and environmental issues.

AXA's Sustainability Strategy is focused on two main themes: (1) climate change and biodiversity, and

1. inclusive protection. Such themes are material to AXA's business, and relate to domains where AXA as an insurer and an investor can have the most positive impact.

To support AXA's Sustainability Strategy, AXA created in May 2020 a new internal management body, the Role In Society Steering Committee ("RISSC") to leverage its business model to respond to societal issues, with a strong focus on climate-related considerations. The RISSC is co-chaired by the Group Chief Risk & Investment Officer and the Group Head of Communication, Brand and Sustainability and reviews all material investment, underwriting, risk, operational and policy issues faced by the Group that relate to AXA's Sustainability Strategy. The authority of the RISSC covers all of the Group's operations. The RISSC members represent a wide range of functions, responsibilities and geographies. The RISSC meets on a quarterly basis and reports back to the Management Committee concerning material decisions taken and issues considered on which Management Committee's guidance or decisions are needed.

1.2.1 Climate change and biodiversity

AXA's climate change and biodiversity strategy is not only to adapt, but also to take advantage of its expertise in providing solutions. In 2020, AXA demonstrated its commitment in this regard by integrating climate change into AXA's new Strategic Plan, Driving Progress 2023, with a commitment to reduce the carbon footprint of AXA's General Account assets (i.e., corporate fixed income; listed equities; real estate assets) by 20% by 2025.2

2AXA, press release dated December 1, 2020, "AXA reveals its 2023 strategy".

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AXA SUSTAINABILITY BOND FRAMEWORK

As a global insurer, AXA is well equipped to contribute to the understanding of climate change through its risk management expertise, the vast amount of claims data it collects, and the research it funds to address climate-related risks. It also has a duty to disseminate knowledge about new risks.

Through its significant investments, AXA is also well positioned to send the right signals to the investment community and to the companies AXA invests in.

AXA has established itself as a leader on climate change. In 2015, AXA publicly stated that "a +4°C world is not insurable": runaway climate change will create risks so large that conventional market mechanisms may no longer be suitable. AXA has supported the Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures ("TCFD") since its creation and has published Climate Reports following the TCFD recommendations since 2016.

AXA was the first large mainstream investor to divest from coal in early 2015. Coal is by far the most carbon intensive form of energy and phasing it out is key to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement. In 2017, AXA further pioneered coal and oil sands restrictions in its insurance business, then extended those restrictions to the AXA XL division in 2018.

AXA's climate & biodiversity strategy, updated in November 2019, features the following developments, supporting the alignment of its business with the Paris Agreement:

• "Warming potential" of AXA's investments aligned with a +1.5°C trajectory by 2050. This long- term target has been complemented, since December 2020, by a -20%investment-related carbon footprint target between 2019 and 2025;
• a green investment target of Euro 24 billion by 2023;
• the launch of the "Transition Bond" asset class, with two issuances of €100 million each in 2019 and 2020;
• a long-term total exit from the coal industry backed by strict investment and underwriting restrictions, as well as on other carbon-intensive industries;
• a target of contributing to carbon neutrality via AXA's operations (direct environmental footprint - see below); and
• a commitment to support the creation of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures and other initiatives to address biodiversity loss through investment and underwriting policies.

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