Behind the smokescreen: The loopholes in French banks’ coal policies
Reclaim Finance wanted to know where the major French banks stand in their support for the coal industry. Four years after the adoption of their coal policies, this briefing analyzes transactions to companies in the sector between 2021 and 2023. It deciphers the flaws in the banks’ policies that allow them to continue financing coal developers and companies that have no public exit date from the sector, or that are not aligned with climate science. It explains why these practices can be considered as ‘greenwashing’.
Key findings:
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problematic coal companies were financed by major French banks between 2021 and 2023.
- Despite a reduction in coal sector financing since 2019, our analysis reveals that many problematic transactions persisted between 2021 and 2023. The four major French banks (BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole, Société Générale and BPCE/Natixis) supported nine coal developers, 11 companies that do not have a public date for exiting coal, and 12 companies with coal exit dates that do not align with climate science.
- These problematic transactions are primarily explained by four main loopholes found in the policies of one or more banks.
- While the deals we identified do not breach the policies of the four major French banks, they go against the spirit of both the policies and the banks’ public communications. The banks are giving a misleading impression of coal financing with their claims to be “exiting coal”. This could qualify as greenwashing according to European financial regulators.