Paris, 23 May 2023 – At the Société Générale annual general meeting today, new CEO Slawomir Krupa, who has succeeded Frédéric Oudéa, praised the policy of small steps that has marked the last 15 years on climate change. Reclaim Finance calls on Slawomir Krupa to quickly make up for this by taking strong measures to end support for oil and gas expansion from 2023.
Present at the meeting, Reclaim Finance and ShareAction asked Société Générale to catch up in the climate battle by accelerating its exit from fossil fuels and increasing its contribution to the energy transition. Without questioning Frédéric Oudéa’s record, Slawomir Krupa said that the ecological transition was “a complicated subject” and that “changing from one thing to another is not possible”, hence his objective to act around the concept of “transition”.
The new CEO has unfortunately shown no willingness to accelerate the bank’s climate action after his predecessor’s very weak record. However, he will need to instil a new strategy to catch up with Société Générale’s climate emergency.
Antoine Laurent, Head of Advocacy France at Reclaim Finance
Société Générale continues to finance new oil and gas field projects and the expansion strategy of the oil and gas majors (1), despite the conclusions of scientists and the projections of the International Energy Agency on limiting global warming to 1.5°C. Last week, Société Générale participated in a €1.5 billion loan to the oil giant BP (2), which this year reduced the ambition of its climate objectives (3).
Frédéric Oudéa’s record is one of providign nearly $100 billion in financing for fossil fuels between 2016 and 2022 while taking a few derisory measures related to oil and gas expansion. Société Générale must adopt strong measures this year to put an end to its support for oil and gas expansion.
Antoine Laurent, Head of Advocacy France at Reclaim Finance
While competitors such as BNP Paribas, HSBC and ING have committed to stop financing new oil and gas projects, Société Générale is, along with Natixis (BPCE group), the last French bank not to have adopted any measures to curb the expansion of conventional hydrocarbons. (4)
Reclaim Finance is calling on the new head of Société Générale Slawomir Krupa to align with best practice, to make its financial services to oil and gas companies conditional on halting the development of new projects and adopting targets to reduce their production by 2030, and to increase its funding for the transition by providing 5 euros in renewable energy for every 1 euro of finance for fossil fuels by 2030.
The bank was also questioned by Radek Kubala of the Czech NGO Re-Set about its support for the Czech company EPH (5). The company, owned by billionaire Daniel Křetínský and known for its takeover of coal mines and power plants, plans to double its gas-fired power generation capacity from 7 to 14 GW.
