L’art de noyer le poisson par BNP Paribas bis repetita

Reclaim Finance responds to BNP Paribas' claims that the 'Banking on Climate Chaos 2023' report used a biased methodology and overestimated fossil fuel financing. The organization asserts that its methodology is transparent and consistent since 2016, arguing that the reported figures—including $5.5 billion provided to the 100 largest fossil fuel developers in 2022—are likely underestimated because they exclude bilateral financing. Reclaim Finance rejects the bank's attempt to offset these figures with renewable energy investments, noting that BNP Paribas' ratio of clean energy investment to fossil fuel investment (1.7 to 1 in 2021) falls far short of the IEA's 1.5°C scenario requirement of 9 to 1.

• Reclaim Finance disputes BNP Paribas' claim that the 2023 report overestimated financing by $5.6 billion, noting that even if this were true, $15 billion in fossil fuel financing for 2022 would remain.
• The organization argues that the report's figures are likely underestimated rather than overestimated because they do not include bilateral financing, only data from providers like Bloomberg.
• BNP Paribas provided $5.5 billion in financing to the 100 largest fossil fuel developers in 2022, totaling $64 billion since 2016, largely due to its role as a primary financier for Shell, ENI, and BP, and the second largest for TotalEnergies.
• According to a BloombergNEF study, BNP Paribas' investment ratio in 2021 was only 1.7 dollars in clean energy for every 1 dollar in fossil fuels, which is significantly lower than the International Energy Agency's (IEA) 1.5°C scenario requirement of 9 dollars for transition for every 1 dollar in fossil fuels.
• Reclaim Finance calls for BNP Paribas to stop direct support for new oil and gas production and transport projects and to publish exhaustive annual data on all energy sector financing, including syndicated and bilateral loans and securities emissions.

APA

Martin, L. (2023). L’art de noyer le poisson par BNP Paribas bis repetita. Reclaim Finance. https://reclaimfinance.org/site/2023/04/14/lart-de-noyer-le-poisson-par-bnp-paribas-bis-repetita/

Chicago

Martin, Léo. L’art de noyer le poisson par BNP Paribas bis repetita. Reclaim Finance, 2023. https://reclaimfinance.org/site/2023/04/14/lart-de-noyer-le-poisson-par-bnp-paribas-bis-repetita/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Martin |first1=Léo |title=L’art de noyer le poisson par BNP Paribas bis repetita |publisher=Reclaim Finance |date=14 April 2023 |url=https://reclaimfinance.org/site/2023/04/14/lart-de-noyer-le-poisson-par-bnp-paribas-bis-repetita/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{martin2023lart, author = {Martin, Léo}, title = {{L’art de noyer le poisson par BNP Paribas bis repetita}}, publisher = {Reclaim Finance}, year = {2023}, month = apr, url = {https://reclaimfinance.org/site/2023/04/14/lart-de-noyer-le-poisson-par-bnp-paribas-bis-repetita/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }