The amount of green and sustainable credits on the balance sheets of French banks has increased by 50% in one year, their federation indicated on Thursday, a report from the Court of Auditors having estimated a month earlier their poorly quantifiable objectives in this area.
The Federation of French Banks (FBF) announced Thursday that the amount of green and sustainable credits on their balance sheets increased from 216 billion euros in 2022 to 337 billion euros in 2023, a quadrupling over three years, according to a press release.
Often weakly explicit commitments
French financial companies, which regularly update their policies to combat global warming, display objectives that are poorly quantifiable, poorly monitored and poorly comparable, the Court of Auditors deplored in its annual report in mid-March.
Specific to each company, the indicators for monitoring commitments made by banking institutions and insurers, as well as their methodologies, are often poorly explained, the Court also considered.
For every euro of fossil financing, five euros finance the transition
Committed to the fight against climate change, banks are increasingly massively financing the transition projects of their clients, businesses or individuals, assures the FBF. The exposure of French banks to the hydrocarbon sector has thus decreased by 16% in 2023 from 78 billion euros in 2022 to 66 billion in 2023, for each euro of fossil financing, five euros finance the transition, adds the press release.
Widening the gap with their counterparts across the Atlantic, French banks still rank among the 10 best global players in the renewable energy project financing market.
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Green and sustainable bonds
Banks also support their clients through the arrangement of green and sustainable bonds. In this market, they are among the world leaders, with 100 billion euros structured on behalf of clients during the year 2023, further assures the federation, adding that French banks know that much remains to be done, and that They intend to continue their efforts.
Out of 1.011 billion euros of bonds helping to finance fossil fuels issued since the Paris Climate Agreement, 521 billion were issued thanks to the assistance of one or more French banks, Crdit Agricole in the lead, ahead of BNP Paribas and Socit General, according to the Fossil Finance study, unveiled in September 2023 by a consortium of journalists.
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