Crédit Agricole, the French bank and parent of asset manager Amundi, has taken its first steps to phase out the oil and gas sector financing amid its ‘Ambitions 2025’ decarbonisation plans.
The lender said it will adopt decarbonisation targets for the most carbon intensive sectors with the aim of reducing CO2 emissions from oil and gas financing by 30% in absolute terms by 2030.
It is also aiming to halve exposure to the automobile sector over the same timeframe.
This follows its commitment to the Net-Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA) and the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ), where the firm has pledged to align its portfolio with the objective of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 in order to limit global warming to 1.5°C.
It added additional measures will be needed to achieve real-world emissions targets and plans to publish new oil and gas policies this year and next to ensure these targets are met.
Lucie Pinson, director of Reclaim Finance, commented: “We welcome Credit Agricole’s announcement which acknowledges for the first time the need to phase out oil and gas and to complement their 2030 decarbonisation targets with measures to immediately reduce emissions in the real world.
“We call on Credit Agricole to cement this ambition by becoming the first French bank, as it was on coal, to end direct and indirect support for new oil and gas fields.”
