Paris, May 16, 2023 – Climate change was a topic at the Crédit Agricole Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Wednesday, as it was at the BNP Paribas AGM the day before. While Crédit Agricole acknowledged that respecting climate science means an end to new oil and gas projects, no concrete announcement was made by the group to end its support for oil and gas expansion. Reclaim Finance calls on the bank to move from words to action and make its support for large companies, such as TotalEnergies, conditional on an end to fossil fuel expansion.
Crédit Agricole’s general meeting took place in a context of strong mobilization of civil society. While the NGOs Avaaz and 350.org led an action near the general meeting before it opened, other NGOs and representatives were inside to question the group’s management on the climate emergency. The Head of Advocacy of Reclaim Finance, who was unable to ask his question, was also present.
Philippe Brassac finally recognizes the responsibility of his group in supporting oil and gas expansion, which contravenes its own commitments to limit global warming to 1.5°C. However, this speech of conviction has not been translated into concrete action. Crédit Agricole’s climate action has stalled after years of leading on coal. The urgency forces it to wake up by putting an end to the financing of new gas fields and by requiring the oil and gas companies it finances to put an end to fossil fuel expansion.
Antoine Laurent, Head of Advocacy France
Mobilized in the Philippines against a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal project developed by Shell, and in Uganda against the EACOP project carried by TotalEnergies, two companies supported by Crédit Agricole (1), Hilda Flavia Nakabuye, an activist in Uganda, and Father Edwin Gariguez, an activist in the Philippines, launched an appeal to the management of Crédit Agricole. They asked the bank not to finance these projects, which is already the case for EACOP, and especially to condition their support to companies to the stop of the oil and gas expansion (2).
Unlike BNP Paribas, which announced yesterday that “financing gas projects in the Philippines was not part of its strategy”, the CEO of Crédit Agricole Philippe Brassac evaded the question by indicating that he did not think he was involved, despite being a supporter of Shell, and by claiming that gas was necessary for the transition.
To hear that gas is necessary for the transition when the impact of this liquefied natural gas project in my country is enormous on the environment, biodiversity and communities is unsustainable. Millions of people depend on the passage of the Isla Verde to live. Today, all this is threatened by multinationals, like Shell, thanks to the support of banks like Credit Agricole.
Father Edwin Gariguez, a Catholic priest and Goldman Environmental Prize winner
I spoke in the AGM backed by 66 000 people from France who signed a call to Credit Agricole in the last 48h, many of them are clients of Crédit Agricole who place their trust in the bank. Crédit Agricole has a long history of working for farmers, not against them. Now it is time to stop fueling the climate crisis that is threatening farmers and people from France to Uganda and around the world.
Hilda Flavia Nakabuye, climate activist and founder of the Fridays for Future Uganda movement
As the largest funder of TotalEnergies, the bank is one of the targets of the Defund TotalEnergies campaign, launched yesterday, to call out financial backers of the French company. Since 2016, Crédit Agricole has granted US$9.5 billion to the company. Its asset management subsidiary Amundi, meanwhile, is the major’s largest shareholder with US$14 billion invested in TotalEnergies (3).
Crédit Agricole is also the subject of a petition from the NGO Avaaz, a partner in the Defund TotalEnergies campaign, signed by Greta Thunberg, who is calling on the group’s CEO (4). According to a survey conducted by the NGO, 4 out of 10 Crédit Agricole customers say they might consider closing their account if the bank continues to invest in companies developing new oil and gas projects.
