Dix ans de l’Accord de Paris : un leadership français à la peine sur le charbon

Reclaim Finance asserts that France is failing to lead a global coal exit ten years after the Paris Agreement. Despite domestic plans to close coal plants by 2027, major French banks like BNP Paribas and Société Générale continue to finance thermal and metallurgical coal projects internationally. The document also highlights the failure of the Coal Transition Accelerator (CTA) and other diplomatic efforts to create binding international standards for coal phase-out.

• France plans to close its two remaining operational coal power plants in metropolitan France by 2027, aligning with the International Energy Agency's (IEA) Net Zero Emissions scenario for OECD countries to shut down all coal plants by 2030.
• Major French banks continue to provide significant funding to the thermal coal industry. Between 2022 and 2024, BNP Paribas provided nearly 1.5 billion USD, followed by Société Générale (511 million USD), Crédit Agricole (453 million USD), and BPCE (245 million USD).
• French financial institutions have funded new coal projects despite previous commitments. Examples include Crédit Agricole's September 2024 financing of Taishan Aluminum for a 160 MW captive coal plant in Indonesia, and BNP Paribas' August 2025 financing of China Cinda Asset Management for thermal coal mining expansion in China.
• French banks' policies regarding metallurgical coal are deemed insufficient because they target only new projects rather than the companies developing them. Consequently, BNP and Crédit Agricole participated in bond issuances for BHP, which develops metallurgical coal mines in Australia, and continue to support steelmakers like ArcelorMittal.
• International diplomatic efforts led by France to facilitate a just coal transition have stalled. The Coal Transition Accelerator's (CTA) attempt to establish an OECD 'Gold standard' for private investment was hindered by Japan and Poland and stopped following the election of Donald Trump. Other initiatives, including a World Bank strategy for clean energy capital costs in the Global South and the France-Indonesia co-chaired Commission on Coal Transition (CTC), have had no perceptible impact.

APA

Martin, L. (2025). Dix ans de l’Accord de Paris : un leadership français à la peine sur le charbon. Reclaim Finance. https://reclaimfinance.org/site/2025/10/23/dix-ans-de-laccord-de-paris-un-leadership-francais-a-la-peine-sur-le-charbon/

Chicago

Martin, Léo. Dix ans de l’Accord de Paris : un leadership français à la peine sur le charbon. Reclaim Finance, 2025. https://reclaimfinance.org/site/2025/10/23/dix-ans-de-laccord-de-paris-un-leadership-francais-a-la-peine-sur-le-charbon/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Martin |first1=Léo |title=Dix ans de l’Accord de Paris : un leadership français à la peine sur le charbon |publisher=Reclaim Finance |date=23 October 2025 |url=https://reclaimfinance.org/site/2025/10/23/dix-ans-de-laccord-de-paris-un-leadership-francais-a-la-peine-sur-le-charbon/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{martin2025dix, author = {Martin, Léo}, title = {{Dix ans de l’Accord de Paris : un leadership français à la peine sur le charbon}}, publisher = {Reclaim Finance}, year = {2025}, month = oct, url = {https://reclaimfinance.org/site/2025/10/23/dix-ans-de-laccord-de-paris-un-leadership-francais-a-la-peine-sur-le-charbon/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }