Paris, 7 November – Two and a half years after launching a review of the French SRI (Socially Responsible Investment) label, Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire today announced its new form. The new standards will exclude all companies developing new hydrocarbon projects. Reclaim Finance has welcomed the announcement as an important step forward in the fight against greenwashing, with the government finally recognising the irresponsible nature of companies such as TotalEnergies, BP and Eni in the face of the climate emergency.
In a press release published on Tuesday (1), Bruno Le Maire announced that “the eligibility of the funds will exclude companies that exploit coal or non-conventional hydrocarbons, as well as those that launch new projects for the exploration, exploitation or refining of hydrocarbons (oil or gas). In addition, a transition plan aligned with the Paris Agreement will be required.”
By excluding companies developing new fossil fuel projects from SRI-labelled funds, Bruno Le Maire has acknowledged that in the context of a climate emergency, the activities of these companies are irresponsible. While the precise criteria are still to be specified in new guidelines, it is clear that companies such as TotalEnergies, BP and ENI will be excluded. This is a major step forward for this label in its quest for credibility, and a clear and welcome signal ahead of COP28 of the urgent need to shift funding away from fossil fuels and towards sustainable energy.
Antoine Laurent, advocacy lead at Reclaim Finance
This announcement of the reform of the SRI label comes a few days after the letter sent to French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne by more than 60 individuals from the worlds of business, academia and civil society, including Lucie Pinson, Jean-Marc Jancovici, Jean Jouzel, Cécile Duflot, François Gemenne, Claire Nouvian and Eva Sadoun, calling for an SRI label that is free of greenwashing and meets the expectations of French savers (2).
Reclaim Finance will pay close attention to the new standards and calls for all so-called “responsible”, “solidarity” or “sustainable” funds to adopt the same minimum exclusion criteria to guarantee their credibility and avoid greenwashing.
The new standards will be published by the end of November and will come into force on 1 March 2024. In particular, it will have to specify the criteria defining which companies are ineligible for SRI-labelled funds. Given the difficulty of accessing reliable and transparent information, Reclaim Finance recommends using the reference databases of the NGO Urgewald, GCEL (Global Coal Exit List) and GOGEL (Global Oil & Gas Exit List), which publicly document the activities of the fossil fuel sector. These databases are the official references for the Belgian Towards Sustainability label.
