2023-12-15 08:31:07
The first effects of COP 28 are already being felt. The Crédit Agricole bank had perhaps anticipated since it committed this Thursday to no longer financing new fossil fuel extraction projects and to reducing by 75% the CO2 emitted by projects financed by oil and gas by 2030, the day after the agreement reached by COP28 in Dubai.
“Faced with the climate emergency, we must step up our action towards solutions that will enable society to transform. The strengthening of our climate strategy translates into an acceleration of our commitments in the energy sector by concentrating and strengthening our financial resources on supporting renewable energies”, first specified Philippe Brassac, the general director of the banking group. , one of the main ones in France and Europe, in a press release announcing the update of the climate policy. Concretely, the group announced the tripling annual funding for renewable energies between 2020 and 2030.
But also the 80% increase in “Crédit agricole’s exposure to low-carbon energies between 2020 and 2025 to reach 13.3 billion euros in 2025. In detail, the group is committed to a “reduction financed emissions of -75% in the oil and gas sector by 2030 (vs 2020) compared to -30% announced in 2022,” it is specified in its new climate policy.
“We also decide to cease all financing of new fossil fuel extraction projects and to adopt a selective approach in supporting energy companies registered in this transition, which will have the consequence of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. greenhouse emissions in this sector twice as fast as the Net Zero 2050 scenario published by the International Energy Agency. The strengthening of our climate strategy will be monitored and reviewed quarterly at the highest level of the Group,” the executive also indicated.
A commitment in line with the Dubai agreement signed the day before, which calls for “tripling the capacity of renewable energies globally” by 2030.
This will “result in reducing greenhouse gas emissions from this sector twice as fast as the Net Zero 2050 scenario published by the International Energy Agency,” assured the banker.
Last year, the cessation of financing for oil extraction projects
Last December, Crédit Agricole had already announced the end of financing for new oil extraction projects and specified some of its climate objectives. In a Le Monde investigation into “carbon bombs”oil, gas and coal extraction sites that emit super CO2, Crédit Agricole was ranked seventh among banks providing significant indirect support for its projects.
“The banking market is such that banks very rarely finance fossil extraction projects directly. They prefer to grant loans to extractive companies,” the daily then indicated. The bank also unveiled climate objectives for five new sectors: maritime transport, aviation, steel, residential real estate and agriculture.
Often criticized by NGOs for their support of fossil fuels, banks regularly update their policies limiting their impact on global warming. Several banks took advantage of COP28 to do so: BNP Paribas announced on November 23 that it would no longer finance metallurgical coal, intended mainly for the steel industry, and Société Générale specified a few days earlier commitments made in September, by adding a section on the decarbonization of the commercial real estate sector.
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