BEHIND THE SMOKESCREEN

Reclaim Finance analyzed transactions from 2021 to 2023 and found that four major French banks supported 26 problematic coal groups despite having policies to exit the sector. The report identifies four primary loopholes: exclusion only at the subsidiary level, lack of exclusion for minority stakes under 50%, exclusion of 'captive' coal plants at industrial sites, and reliance on confidential internal documents to justify financing companies without public exit dates. The author argues these practices are misleading to investors and regulators, urging the AMF and ACPR to sanction such 'greenwashing' and demand full transparency.

• Between 2021 and 2023, the four major French banks provided financial support to 26 problematic coal sector groups, including 9 developing coal mines or power plants, 11 without a public coal exit date, and 12 with exit dates not aligned with climate science.
• A significant loophole exists where banks apply exclusions only to subsidiaries directly holding coal assets rather than the entire corporate group, allowing indirect support for coal projects through group-level financing.
• Banks may avoid excluding coal developers if the company holds a minority stake (less than 50%) in a project, which Reclaim Finance argues makes those minority shareholders co-responsible for the project's development.
• Policies often fail to cover 'captive' coal plants—those supplying power to industrial sites—allowing banks to finance industrial projects that include coal plants, such as nickel smelters in Indonesia.
• Banks have justified financing companies that lack public, science-aligned exit dates by claiming to rely on confidential internal documents, a practice that prevents external verification and contradicts good engagement standards.
• The gap between the banks' public 'exit from coal' communications and their actual financing practices may be classified as greenwashing by European regulators and could lead to sanctions for misleading market information.
• Financing to companies on the Global Coal Exit List (GCEL) from the four major French banks decreased by 59% between 2019 and 2023, totaling 7,063 million US dollars over that period.

APA

Reclaim Finance (2024). BEHIND THE SMOKESCREEN. https://reclaimfinance.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Behind-the-smokescreen-report.pdf

Chicago

Reclaim Finance. BEHIND THE SMOKESCREEN. 2024. https://reclaimfinance.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Behind-the-smokescreen-report.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Reclaim Finance |title=BEHIND THE SMOKESCREEN |date=October 2024 |url=https://reclaimfinance.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Behind-the-smokescreen-report.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{reclaimfinance2024behind, author = {{Reclaim Finance}}, title = {{BEHIND THE SMOKESCREEN}}, institution = {Reclaim Finance}, year = {2024}, month = oct, url = {https://reclaimfinance.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Behind-the-smokescreen-report.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }