Caisse des D\u00e9p\u00f4ts et Consignations (CDC), the largest French public asset owner, which manages a large proportion of French people\u2019s savings, published its 2024 responsible investment report at the end of June [1]. While its current commitments still allow CDC to invest in oil and gas expansion, the institution did not take the opportunity to announce a reduction in its support in this area. CDC presents a responsible investor strategy focusing primarily on shareholder dialogue, while its approach lacks credibility. Reclaim Finance is calling on CDC to end its new investments and votes in favor of companies developing new oil and gas projects, improve its transparency, and strengthen its influence with external asset managers.<\/p>\n<\/div>
CDC was managing 323 billion euros in financial assets at the end of 2024, 73% of which came from French people\u2019s savings in accounts such as<\/span> Livret A<\/span><\/i> and <\/span>Livret de D\u00e9veloppement Durable et Solidaire<\/span><\/i> [2]. A <\/span>recent report<\/a><\/span> by Reclaim Finance highlighted CDC’s continued support for oil and gas development and its lack of transparency.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div> In its report published at the end of June, CDC did not announce any new measures to formally end its investments in oil and gas expansion. Our recent report pointed out the flaws in its current commitments, which still allow CDC to make new investments in oil and gas developers, such as TotalEnergies, using French savings. In particular, CDC can still purchase new bonds from these companies, even though the money provided could contribute to the implementation of projects incompatible with a 1.5\u00b0C trajectory according to climate science [3].<\/p>\n Due to CDC’s lack of transparency regarding its investments, however, it is not possible to determine the extent to which the institution continues to make new investments in oil and gas expansion, and which companies are concerned.<\/p>\n CDC has adopted other measures, notably by committing not to increase its total exposure to companies developing new oil exploration or production projects, but not gas projects despite the urgent need to prevent the expansion of fossil gas [4]. However, its current commitments are not sufficient to align with the scientific recommendations for a 1.5\u00b0C trajectory, which is CDC’s stated goal.<\/p>\n Several other investors of comparable size to CDC have already adopted robust measures to reduce their support for oil and gas expansion, thus leading the way [5].<\/p>\n<\/div> In its new report, CDC confirms that shareholder dialogue is one of its key climate action levers. However, its approach to companies pursuing oil and gas expansion lacks credibility, effectiveness, and transparency:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n It is urgent that CDC change its approach, starting by systematically voting against the re-election of directors and the remuneration of top executives and directors of oil and gas developers, as several investors have already begun to do [10].<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div> In a context of repeated attacks targeting ESG and climate retreats by major asset managers like BlackRock [11], CDC has a key responsibility as France’s largest public institutional investor to encourage managers to stay the course of the transition. Today, <\/span>the majority of asset managers engage in climate-damaging practices, massively supporting fossil fuel expansion<\/a><\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n CDC delegates 3% of its portfolio, or 10 billion euros, to external asset managers, in the form of listed and unlisted funds. As long as the institution does not adopt robust climate criteria when selecting a new manager, CDC risks working with some of these asset managers [12].<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nThe uncertainty surrounding new oil and gas investments<\/h2><\/span>
The shareholder dialogue lacks credibility and is ineffective in halting fossil fuel expansion<\/h2><\/span>
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The climate threat of external asset managers<\/h2><\/span>