Carbon Initiatives
Empowering Our Customers
Last year, we offset one million tonnes of CO2 as part of an ambitious 12-month initiative to help heighten awareness amongst our customers of the impact that driving has on our climate.
These efforts made a positive impact on the environment and empowered our customers. We are proud to be able to support evolving carbon initiatives and education programmes, as we strive to build a sustainable future for generations to come.
How much carbon does your car produce?
Did you know that reduced driving can make a measurable impact on your carbon footprint. Quite simply we burn less fuel, so we generate fewer emissions. Check out our handy carbon calculator.
As we move towards a greener future, many of us are looking at smarter ways to reduce our carbon footprint. If you’ve made the switch to an electric or plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV), we want to help you help our planet with cover to drive you forward.
See our full range of benefits for electric car insurance.
Carbon calculator
Use our handy calculator to find out how much CO2 your car produces in a year.
Carbon Neutral Car Insurance Initiative
When it comes to protecting what matters, the action we collectively take matters. To help our customers take action, on the 1st September 2021 we made a commitment to offset the carbon emissions on all car insurance policies purchased or renewed from 1st September 21 to 31st August 2022, at no extra cost to customers.
The first scheme of its kind in Ireland, we are proud of what has been achieved. We have offset the carbon emissions of over 750,000 drivers - just over 1M tonnes of carbon. AXA’s free online carbon calculator has been used in over 1 million car insurance quotes, helping our customers understand their carbon footprint and AXA’s partnership with Ecologi have supported global carbon offsetting projects to protect rainforests, generate sustainable energy and reduce green-house gas emissions.
Find out a little more below about carbon offsetting and projects we were able to fund.
Here’s what one million tonnes of CO2 looks like:
301
thousand
One-way flights from Dublin to Sydney
121
billion
Charging smartphone emissions
3
million
Square metres of ice saved
*All of our statistics are sourced from Ecologi
Please note this benefit is no longer part of our car insurance features from 1st September 2022 - see our Climate page for details on all our future climate initiatives.
Customers who have car insurance policies running with a start date between 1st September 2021 and 31st August 2022 - please see terms & conditions information below if you require more detail.
What is Carbon Offsetting?
Funding climate projects around the world
Carbon offsetting is a way to balance the environmental impact of CO2 emissions produced through different processes, in this case driving, by compensating for it elsewhere. During the 12 month programme it allowed us to make a positive impact on the wider environment, through partnerships with organisations leading environmental projects across wind, solar, hydro and tree planting globally.
Together with our programme partner Ecologi, we helped to fund carbon offsetting projects around the world.
- Producing clean energy from landfill gas in Turkey
- Reducing emissions through sustainable composting in Vietnam
- Producing renewable wind energy in Bulgaria
- Protecting old-growth rainforest in Peru
- Converting gas into clean energy in Brazil
Ecologi supports a range of carbon reduction projects certified at the very highest level by Gold Standard and equivalent. Project support ran between 1st September 2021 and 31st August 2022.
- Carbon Neutral Car Insurance
- Customers who have car insurance policies running with a start date between 1st September 2021 and 31st August 2022 - please see terms & conditions information below for more detail.
- This benefit is no longer available from 1st September 2022
- See our full range of benefits for car insurance or get a quote today click these links.
- How it worked
- The Carbon Neutral Car Initiative (CNCI) benefit was available for all new car insurance policy renewals between 1st September 2021 to 31st August 2022.
- It was open to all existing and new customers with a renewal date between this time period, at no extra cost. The carbon neutral element was included as a standard benefit of your car insurance policy for this period of insurance.
- The annual CO2 offset amount was calculated based on the vehicle and annual kilometres driving information provided by the policyholder at the start date or renewal date of the policy. Mid-term changes to the vehicle and/or driving use will not be used for the calculation of carbon offset.
- AXA will purchase CO2 offsets to cover the emissions produced by your car's usage, up to a maximum of 30,000 miles per year.
- In the event AXA are unable to accurately calculate the CO2 emissions for your vehicle, AXA will purchase offsets equal to the average annual CO2 emissions of a private car.
- Who was eligible
- AXA purchase carbon offsets on behalf of all AXA Insurance dac (AXA Ireland) private car customers who;
- Renewed their car insurance on or after 01/09/2021 and before 31st August 2022
- Bought a new car policy on or after 01/09/2021 and before 31st August 2022
- Carbon credits will only be purchased for policies which remain in force for a minimum period of 90 days. During this time, MyAXA users will see the carbon offset amount as 'pending'.
- The benefit is no longer available after the 1st September 2022.
- Partner
- AXA will purchase carbon credits from Ecologi that will reduce the carbon produced. All of the carbon credits we purchase are verified by Gold Standard or the Verified Carbon Standard.
- Calculator
- How does AXA calculate carbon offset? The annual CO2 emissions figure is calculated by multiplying the annual number of kilometres/miles driven (as declared on your insurance policy) by the official CO2 emissions output (g/km) for your vehicle make and model. The CO2 emissions data is provided by Verisk. For example, a 2019 Toyota Corolla (1.8VVT-I Hybrid) has a CO2 emission of 110g per kilometre. If this were your car and you drive 10,000 kilometres each year, your car would produce 1,100kg or 1.1 metrics tonnes of carbon annually. We will then buy ‘carbon credits’ equivalent to 1.1 tonnes of carbon to offset your emissions.
- Upon entering your vehicle registration number, AXA will conduct a search of a third party database to look up certain factors relating to your vehicle, including make, model and engine size.