BANQUES FRANÇAISES ET CHARBON

Reclaim Finance identifies persistent problematic financing of the coal sector by BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole, Société Générale, and BPCE/Natixis between 2021 and 2023. Despite overall funding decreases, the report finds that these banks supported 26 problematic groups, including coal developers and companies without climate-aligned exit dates. The analysis highlights four major policy loopholes—exclusion at the subsidiary level rather than the group level, minority ownership thresholds, the treatment of 'captive' industrial power plants, and reliance on confidential internal documents—which the report argues may constitute greenwashing and financial risk mismanagement.

• Between 2021 and 2023, the four largest French banks provided support to 26 problematic coal groups: 9 were developers of mines or power plants, 11 had no public exit date, and 12 had public exit dates not aligned with climate science (2030 for EU/OECD and 2040 for the rest of the world).
• The distribution of support for these 26 problematic groups varies by institution: BNP Paribas supported 20 groups, Crédit Agricole 11, Société Générale 9, and BPCE/Natixis 3.
• A significant policy loophole allows banks to exclude only the specific subsidiary operating coal assets while continuing to finance the parent group or financial subsidiaries, which often manage the funds.
• Some bank policies only exclude majority owners (over 50%) of coal projects, meaning minority shareholders who are co-responsible for project development are not excluded.
• Banks have provided financing to industrial projects that include 'captive' coal power plants, arguing that funds are used for other project components, despite the fact that such plants contribute to severe climate and health impacts.
• Banks allegedly use confidential internal documents to justify supporting companies that lack public, climate-aligned exit plans, making it impossible for stakeholders to verify the claims.
• The gap between the banks' public 'coal exit' communications and their actual financing practices may be classified as greenwashing under European financial regulator guidelines and could be sanctioned as misleading market information.

APA

Reclaim Finance (2024). BANQUES FRANÇAISES ET CHARBON. https://reclaimfinance.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Banques-francaises-et-charbon-lart-de-noyer-le-poisson-1.pdf

Chicago

Reclaim Finance. BANQUES FRANÇAISES ET CHARBON. 2024. https://reclaimfinance.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Banques-francaises-et-charbon-lart-de-noyer-le-poisson-1.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Reclaim Finance |title=BANQUES FRANÇAISES ET CHARBON |date=October 2024 |url=https://reclaimfinance.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Banques-francaises-et-charbon-lart-de-noyer-le-poisson-1.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{reclaimfinance2024banques, author = {{Reclaim Finance}}, title = {{BANQUES FRANÇAISES ET CHARBON}}, institution = {Reclaim Finance}, year = {2024}, month = oct, url = {https://reclaimfinance.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Banques-francaises-et-charbon-lart-de-noyer-le-poisson-1.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }