Press release
Paris, July 1, 2022 – Investors Groupama, Groupama Asset Management, Macif and Abeille Assurances have just published their commitments to end support for oil and gas expansion. By adopting measures in line with the latest scientific recommendations, these major players in the Paris financial market are sending a strong signal to majors such as TotalEnergies and joining the French financial players already committed to fighting oil and gas expansion. Reclaim Finance welcomes these measures, which contrast with the conservative positions of some of the market’s largest players, and calls on other financial players to immediately align themselves with what is gradually becoming a new marker for climate action.
Several financial players from the French groups Groupama and Aéma (3) have published new measures targeting the oil and gas sector and in particular companies developing new oil and gas fields. The IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) and the IEA (International Energy Agency) indicate the need to stop these projects that are totally incompatible with the objective of limiting global warming to +1.5°C (4). By making the end of supports to oil and gas expansion the main point of their policy, these investor-insurers, who collectively weigh more than € 240 billion, are joining the dynamic that has been intensifying since the end of 2021 by Ircantec, MAIF, CNP Assurances and the asset manager Anaxis (5).
Louis-Maxence Delaporte, Campaigner at Reclaim Finance, says: “More and more French investors are becoming aware of the climate emergency and are getting into gear to stop the oil and gas boom. Unfortunately, other financial institutions are still at a standstill, such as AG2R La Mondiale and Covéa, which continue to invest without restriction in companies that are developing new carbon bombs.”
As of now, these policies will result in a halt to new investments in companies such as Saudi Aramco, Shell and BP. On the other hand, while Groupama and Groupama AM are now excluding TotalEnergies from their new investments (excluding open-end funds) (6), Macif and Abeille Assurances will still be able to invest in TotalEnergies until 2024, after which they will exclude the French major if it cannot “demonstrate the effectiveness of their transition approach” based on a halt to expansion, an absolute reduction in overall emissions and an allocation of 25% of CAPEX to investments aligned with the taxonomy.
Other investor policies are expected in the coming weeks, including one from La Banque Postale Asset Management (LBPAM). The asset management branch of La Banque Postale Group has already announced that it will make halting oil and gas expansion one of the demands of its dialogue with companies in the sector, but has not guaranteed that it will systematically vote against expansionists in the sector, suspend such new investments and then divest in the short term from companies that do not abandon their expansion plans.
“The stakes are high for the credibility of the La Banque Postale group. Its CEO Philippe Heim pledged at the 2021 Climate Finance Day that the group’s two subsidiaries would align with the policy of halting support for expansion and exiting oil and gas production altogether by 2030. CNP Assurances has followed up but LBPAM continues to invest in companies that use this new money to develop mega oil and gas projects that are totally incompatible with LBP’s climate ambitions” concludes Lucie Pinson, Director of Reclaim Finance.