CSRD: French Banks Facing Their Past Positions

Reclaim Finance examines the 2020 consultation responses from Crédit Agricole, BNP Paribas, BPCE, Société Générale, and the French Banking Federation (FBF) regarding the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). The analysis finds that these five financial actors were unanimous in their support for replacing the Non-Financial Reporting Directive (NFRD) with a common, mandatory reporting standard to improve data comparability and reliability. The banks specifically advocated for the inclusion of climate transition plans, the application of 'double materiality,' and the extraterritorial application of the rules to non-EU companies operating in Europe. The report contrasts these historical positions with more recent criticisms, such as the CEO of BNP Paribas describing the CSRD as a "bureaucratic delusion."

• In 2020, the four largest French banks and the French Banking Federation (FBF) unanimously agreed that the previous Non-Financial Reporting Directive (NFRD) was insufficient due to a lack of comparability, reliability, and sufficient data for decision-making.
• The analyzed financial actors strongly supported the creation of a common, mandatory reporting standard to resolve NFRD shortcomings and specifically requested sector-specific standards for industries such as fossil fuels.
• French banks expressed a clear preference for European-led standards, rejecting the US-based Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) as a credible option while supporting the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and the Platform on Sustainable Finance (PSF).
• The financial actors explicitly demanded that the CSRD include more information on climate issues, specifically calling for the disclosure of climate transition plans and strategies aligned with a 2°C scenario or European objectives.
• All five analyzed financial actors supported the 'double materiality' principle—considering both external impacts on a company and the company's impact on the environment—and demanded the mandatory publication of the materiality assessment process.
• The banks unanimously supported the extraterritorial application of the CSRD to non-European companies with significant operations in the EU to ensure a level playing field and maintain comparability.
• Regarding SMEs, the financial actors supported a mandatory (rather than voluntary) simplified reporting standard and generally agreed with lowering the reporting threshold from 500 to 250 employees to facilitate transition financing.

APA

Reclaim Finance (2025). CSRD: French Banks Facing Their Past Positions. https://reclaimfinance.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/EN-Note-banks-CSRD-2025-01-30_Reclaim-Finance.pdf

Chicago

Reclaim Finance. CSRD: French Banks Facing Their Past Positions. 2025. https://reclaimfinance.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/EN-Note-banks-CSRD-2025-01-30_Reclaim-Finance.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Reclaim Finance |title=CSRD: French Banks Facing Their Past Positions |date=February 2025 |url=https://reclaimfinance.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/EN-Note-banks-CSRD-2025-01-30_Reclaim-Finance.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{reclaimfinance2025csrd, author = {{Reclaim Finance}}, title = {{CSRD: French Banks Facing Their Past Positions}}, institution = {Reclaim Finance}, year = {2025}, month = feb, url = {https://reclaimfinance.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/EN-Note-banks-CSRD-2025-01-30_Reclaim-Finance.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }