Credit Agricole (CA) has pledged to finance one in three renewable energy and energy efficiency projects in France by 2020.
CA will fund the projects through its green finance unit Unifergie, part of CA Leasing & Factoring.
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The group also committed €100bn (£88.9bn) in green financing across the globe, a step up from the €60bn it pledged at the COP 21 climate conference in Paris in 2015.
CA will also update its risk assessment process to factor the environmental footprint of projects financed for large clients. It is also going to expunge the most environmentally-unfriendly activities – like oil sands projects and Arctic oil extraction – from its sector policies.
The company said: “With its deep-rooted history as a ‘green’ bank, Credit Agricole has a crucial role to play in facilitating the energy and carbon transitions. It takes a realistic but thorough approach to helping its clients transform over time by providing appropriate innovative solutions.”
Philippe Brassac, chief executive officer of CA, added: “We are accompanying progress: our role is to accelerate the energy transition and to support, through our expertise, our customers in changing their business models. In order to be efficient, our commitments must be precise and technical.”
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By GlobalDataCA’s move follows similar commitments by British banks HSBC and Barclays. HSBC recently pledged $100bn (€84bn; £74bn) for sustainable financing by 2025, while Barclays last week unveiled a new range of “green” facilities, including asset finance, for businesses requiring more than £3m to finance sustainable projects.
