FINANCE FRANÇAISE : TOURNER LA PAGE DU CHARBON

The policy brief contends that despite France's diplomatic leadership and the Paris Place's 2019 commitment to phase out coal, French financial institutions continue to fund coal development. It highlights the severe health and climate impacts of coal, the failure of voluntary commitments—specifically among four major French banks—and calls for a national legal ban on financial services for coal projects to ensure a credible transition.

• Coal combustion is the most dangerous energy source for human health per unit produced, with global deaths attributed to coal combustion estimated at 687,000 in 2015 and 561,000 in 2020.
• Coal has a massive climate impact, accounting for 73.22% of global CO2 emissions for electricity and heating in 2022, and 42.49% of total greenhouse gas emissions.
• The International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimates that replacing coal with renewable energy globally would yield minimum economic gains of 85 trillion dollars and increase global GDP by approximately 1.3% annually until 2100.
• Global coal capacity increased in 2023 by 580 GW from new plants, despite OECD countries not building new coal plants since 2019.
• Between January 2021 and December 2023, four major French banks (BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole, Société Générale, and BPCE/Natixis) provided 3.373 billion USD in financing to 26 companies incompatible with a coal phase-out, including 9 coal developers.
• French financial institutions' voluntary commitments are often insufficient or imprecise; a joint report by the ACPR and AMF found that only 33% of these commitments are accompanied by monitoring data to prove the objectives are being met.
• Financing for metallurgical coal remains a significant gap, with only two French investors (Eurazeo and Anaxis) cutting support for companies developing metallurgical coal projects and only three banks stopping direct financing of mine projects.

APA

Reclaim Finance (2024). FINANCE FRANÇAISE : TOURNER LA PAGE DU CHARBON. https://reclaimfinance.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Note-de-plaidoyer-2024.08.08_Reclaim-Finance_Note-de-plaidoyer-charbon-1.pdf

Chicago

Reclaim Finance. FINANCE FRANÇAISE : TOURNER LA PAGE DU CHARBON. 2024. https://reclaimfinance.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Note-de-plaidoyer-2024.08.08_Reclaim-Finance_Note-de-plaidoyer-charbon-1.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Reclaim Finance |title=FINANCE FRANÇAISE : TOURNER LA PAGE DU CHARBON |date=August 2024 |url=https://reclaimfinance.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Note-de-plaidoyer-2024.08.08_Reclaim-Finance_Note-de-plaidoyer-charbon-1.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{reclaimfinance2024finance, author = {{Reclaim Finance}}, title = {{FINANCE FRANÇAISE : TOURNER LA PAGE DU CHARBON}}, institution = {Reclaim Finance}, year = {2024}, month = aug, url = {https://reclaimfinance.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Note-de-plaidoyer-2024.08.08_Reclaim-Finance_Note-de-plaidoyer-charbon-1.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }