AMUNDI: Our investigation into Europe’s biggest investor

Amundi, Europe's largest asset manager, faces significant contradictions between its sustainable finance ambitions and its actual investment practices. The report highlights three primary challenges: the growth of passive management which bypasses coal exclusions, a weak shareholder engagement policy that fails to sanction coal developers, and continued investment in oil and gas expansion, including high-risk projects in the Arctic. Despite joining the Net Zero Asset Manager Initiative, Amundi's policies are described as vague and insufficient to align with the 1.5°C goal of the Paris Agreement.

• Amundi is the largest European asset manager, managing €1811 billion in assets and ranking as the 5th largest globally in 2020. Its influence is further expanded through the acquisition of Lyxor on January 1, 2022, and the development of its AI portfolio management tool, Alto.
• The growth of Amundi's passive management branch creates a significant climate risk because these funds often bypass investment rules that limit support for carbon-intensive sectors. Specifically, a large part of passive management is exempt from Amundi's coal exit policy, leading to investments of 4.8 billion in the sector as of January 2021, including companies like Glencore, KEPCO, and Marubeni.
• Amundi's shareholder engagement policy is deemed ineffective. In 2021, Amundi voted in favour of 78% of resolutions proposed by the management of 13 analysed coal project developers and supported all resolutions in 50% of cases. The report notes that Amundi explicitly endorsed Glencore's climate plan despite the company's intent to operate coal mines beyond 2050.
• Amundi continues to support oil and gas expansion, which contradicts the International Energy Agency's (IEA) 1.5°C trajectory. Its exclusion criteria for the oil and gas sector are described as narrow, allowing it to support nearly 75% of expansion plans. As of January 14, 2022, Amundi held over EUR 14 billion in six European oil and gas majors, being the top shareholder in TotalEnergies.
• Amundi is a major financier of fossil fuel development in the Arctic, holding $13 billion in the largest developers in the region and ranking as the third largest supporter in that area.
• Amundi's lobbying activities regarding European sustainable finance regulations are described as ambiguous. While the parent company Crédit Agricole appears more in favour of binding measures, Amundi has lobbied to weaken the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) and expressed reservations about the European taxonomy's DNSH principle.

APA

Cuvelier, L., & Pottier, G. (2022). AMUNDI: Our investigation into Europe’s biggest investor. Reclaim Finance. https://reclaimfinance.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Report_Amundi_investigation-investment_giant_EN_VF.pdf

Chicago

Cuvelier, Lara, and Guillaume Pottier. AMUNDI: Our investigation into Europe’s biggest investor. Reclaim Finance, 2022. https://reclaimfinance.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Report_Amundi_investigation-investment_giant_EN_VF.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Cuvelier |first1=Lara |last2=Pottier |first2=Guillaume |title=AMUNDI: Our investigation into Europe’s biggest investor |publisher=Reclaim Finance |date=February 2022 |url=https://reclaimfinance.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Report_Amundi_investigation-investment_giant_EN_VF.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{cuvelier2022amundi, author = {Cuvelier, Lara and Pottier, Guillaume}, title = {{AMUNDI: Our investigation into Europe’s biggest investor}}, institution = {Reclaim Finance}, year = {2022}, month = feb, url = {https://reclaimfinance.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Report_Amundi_investigation-investment_giant_EN_VF.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }