PARIS (Reuters) -Credit Agricole, France’s second-largest listed bank, said on Thursday it would stop financing any new fossil fuel extraction projects and publish its exposure to that sector as part of its new climate targets.
The announcement follows the deal struck at the COP28 climate summit among representatives of nearly 200 countries, who agreed to begin reducing global consumption of fossil fuels to avert the worst of climate change.
The French lender said it would triple its annual financing of renewable energy projects by 2030 to 3 billion euros ($3.27 billion) from 1 billion euros currently.
Credit Agricole also said it would hike by 80% its investment bank unit’s exposure to low-carbon energies between 2020 and 2025, with the aim of reaching 13.3 billion euros.
It added that, regarding its financing of energy companies, it would have no corporate financing of independent producers which were dedicated exclusively to the exploration or production of oil and gas.
“In a context of climate emergency, we need to amplify our commitment towards measures supporting the transformation of society,” Chief Executive Philippe Brassac said.
($1 = 0.9176 euros)
(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta and Mathieu Rosemain; Editing by Edmund Klamann)
