Bruno Le Maire, French Minister of Economy and Finance, dreams of making Paris the capital of green finance. In October 2020, he called on the French finance sector to phase out support to non-conventional oil & gas. Nonetheless, financial institutions have since remained silent. With the exception of OFI AM, CNP Insurance and Sycomore, French banks, insurers and investors are still ensconced in these dangerous subsectors.<\/span><\/p>\nThe Fossil Finance Scan developed by Reclaim Finance and endorsed by Friends of the Earth France, 350.org and Oxfam France, places the policies adopted by 56 French financial institutions under the microscope. More precisely, it examines their policies to phase out exposure to the five oil & gas sectors posing the greatest risk for the climate, the environment and local populations: tar sands, shale oil & gas, liquefied natural gas (LNG), Arctic and ultra deep offshore drilling.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nThe results are anything but positive:<\/strong> only 22 of the 56 financial institutions have adopted a policy to reduce their exposure to tar sands, one of the most polluting oil industries<\/strong>. There are only 16 policies on shale oil & gas and a mere six on LNG, <\/span>two ticking climate bombs.<\/span> Only 13 policies are identified which attempt to avoid drilling in the Arctic, a major climate and biodiversity hotspot and a mere four financial institutions restrict their support for deep-sea exploration<\/span><\/p>\nShockingly, some major players – such as Amundi (of Cr\u00e9dit Agricole) and Lyxor (of Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 G\u00e9n\u00e9rale) – have not adopted <\/b>any <\/i><\/b>policies so far. And heavyweights like insurer AXA have no policies on shale oil & gas, t<\/b>he sector in which the majority of hydrocarbon growth is expected in the years to come. <\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>