BNP Paribas announced on Monday that it wanted to step up its green transition by accelerating its disconnection from fossil fuel financing.
“Building on the experience developed through the Low Carbon Transition Group, BNP Paribas is embarking on a new phase of very strong acceleration. At the end of this new phase, by 2030, BNP Paribas will have completed more than 80% of the transition of its financing activities towards the production of low carbon energies” can be read in a press release.
It wants to “achieve a target of 40 billion euros in pending financing for the production of low-carbon energies, mainly renewables, by 2030.”
But also reduce “to less than 1,000 million euros, that is, a drop of more than 80% compared to the current outstanding balance of 5,000 million euros, the outstanding balance of financing for the extraction and production of oil in 2030, this through the planned closure of specialized financing activities or those associated with this sector”.
€28 billion in outstanding loans for low-carbon energy production
The bank also announces that it “reserves its financing in the gas sector as a priority for new generation thermal power plants with low emission rates as well as security of supply, gas terminals and the gas transport fleet. Pending financing in gas extraction and production will thus be reduced by more than 30% by 2030.”
“In 2015, when the Paris agreement was signed, financing for low-carbon energy production represented only a limited part of BNP Paribas’ loan portfolio for energy production. “By 2030, they will represent 4/ 5 parts. have completed 80% of their transition in less than 15 years, confirming their position as a leader among the major international players in financing,” says Jean-Laurent Bonnafé, CEO of BNP Paribas.
The French bank explains that “it has already pivoted mainly towards financing the production of low-carbon energies.”
Its outstanding loans for the production of low-carbon energies are thus “more than 28,000 million euros at the end of September 2022, already almost 20% higher than those for the production of fossil energies.”
Remember that it has not financed any oil project since 2016 and maintains “a commitment to reduce pending financing for oil extraction and production by 25% by 2025.”
Source: BFM TV
