A group of major investors is calling on five of Europe’s largest banks to “stop directly financing new oil and gas fields by the end of this year,” the NGO ShareAction announced on Friday. The banks targeted are the French BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole and Société Générale, the British Barclays and the German Deutsche Bank, according to a press release from the NGO, which is coordinating this call involving 30 investors, including asset managers Candriam and La French or the Brunel pension fund.
L’exemple HSBC
These establishments were the main European financiers of companies working on the expansion of hydrocarbon projects between 2016 and 2021, behind the British banking giant HSBC, according to the NGO. HSBC announced at the end of December that it would stop financing new oil and gas fields, a decision which had been welcomed by environmental organizations.
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The establishment is “the largest global bank to date” to have made this type of announcement and did so “following months of continuous pressure from activist shareholders” who are increasingly concerned regarding the issue, argues ShareAction. The group of investors, which manages a total of some 1.5 trillion dollars in assets, sent letters to the leaders of the five institutions concerned.
They point out in particular that 11 of the 25 largest European banks have already restricted the financing of new oil and gas installations, citing, in addition to HSBC, the Spanish BBVA, the Dutch ING, the British Lloyds and the Italian UniCredit.
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Société Générale told AFP that at the end of 2022 it had reinforced “its objectives for reducing its exposure to the oil and gas production sector” while Crédit Agricole said it had confirmed in December that it would no longer finance “any new extraction project. petroleum”.
BNP Paribas says for its part that it has initiated the exit from oil exploration and production, specifying that in 2030 it will only remain in its portfolio “only the remainder of loans to be amortised, i.e. less than one billion euros”, and that it “will reduce its outstanding amount by 30%” for gas. The other targeted banks, contacted by AFP, did not respond immediately.
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