“The next three years will determine the course of the next 30 years and beyond” and “This year is the last time we have, if we are not to see a carbon rebound”. Fatih Birol, the Executive Director of the International Energy Agency, could not be clearer: tomorrow will be too late to act.
Are French financial institutions taking action? Undoubtedly, most are. Support for renewables is increasing, climate reporting is becoming commonplace, ESG is on everyone’s lips and coal policies are proliferating…But the impact of most of these measures remains to be proven and the overall balance sheet is undoubtedly insufficient to meet environmental objectives and to limit global warming to 1.5°C or even 2°C.
An example on coal: while Paris is already asserting its lead over other financial centres, only about ten institutions have adopted a good policy capable of supporting the exit.
A senior insurance executive recently said: “the climate is not a rat race”. Indeed, this is not a question of doing better than the City, Wall Street or Singapore, but of doing what it takes and doing it fast. Getting out of coal is an essential step, but the expansion of all fossil fuels must be stopped now in order to organise their exit.
Just a year ago, the federations of the Paris financial centre pledged that their members would have an exit strategy for coal by mid 2020. Our analysis shows that the numbers don’t add up.
Reclaim Finance and the NGOs behind the Unfriend Coal – Insure Our Future campaign reveals in a new report the names of the 15 largest insurers in the oil and gas industry, amongst which is AXA.
AXA and Amundi/Crédit Agricole, two investors quick to boast of their commitment to fight climate change, voted against a resolution calling on the biggest polluter of the CAC 40, Total, to do more about climate.
The IEA has published its support measures for clean energy in the context of post-COVID recovery plans. But these measures do not take into account the climate targets needed to limit global warming to 1.5°C.
In a paper published on June 24, the NGFS encourages its members to take a proactive attitude by opting for “concrete measures”. It now needs to go further and push them to exclude fossil fuels from their operations.
The European Commission is asking for your input and set up a public consultation that will close on 15 July. Here is your chance to counter the influence of the financial lobby and push Europe to “green” its finance!
