The “Acting for the climate: our contribution to carbon neutrality by 2050” guide has been published
The result of a large-scale collective effort involving all Crédit Agricole S.A. Group entities, the new reference guide outlines the entire process of implementing Crédit Agricole’s low-carbon strategy with a view to achieving global neutrality by 2050.
After a review of climate change issues, the highly informative report details the Group’s climate strategy and explains how the Group is helping to shape a low-carbon economy in line with the International Energy Agency’s “Net Zero by 2050” roadmap. The methodology consisted in selecting the 10 highest-emitting sectors among financing, which account for 60% of Crédit Agricole’s outstandings and 75% of global greenhouse gas emissions. In 2022, the Societal Project Department worked with Crédit Agricole S.A. Group entities to determine quantified and dated carbon reduction trajectories for the top five sectors generating the most emissions: oil and gas, power generation, automotive, commercial real estate, and cement.
It also detailed the decarbonisation trajectory of the Group’s direct operating footprint. The new document explains the whole process and presents the five other sectors currently under review: aviation, shipping, steel, residential real estate, and agriculture. In addition, work on studying carbon neutrality was extended this year to the Regional Banks.
The guide is intended for all our internal and external stakeholders and provides transparent information on the structural stages of the implementation of the climate strategy. The climate strategy is a global equation with three components:
- Accelerate the uptake of renewable and non-carbon energy. Crédit Agricole is already the leading private financier of renewable energy in France;
- Equip society as a whole and support the transition of economic sectors to form a low-carbon economy;
- Help to step up the exit from fossil fuels by following a cadenced and planned disengagement plan. In the last two years, for every dollar withdrawn from fossil fuels, Crédit Agricole has invested 4 euros in renewables. The bank has committed to a permanent exit from the thermal coal industry by 2030 in OECD countries and by 2040 in the rest of the world.
Since its creation, Crédit Agricole has supported the transformations of society and placed the ecological transition and social utility at the heart of its corporate purpose. To respond to climate emergency, the Group is harnessing the strength of its universal banking model to help everyone move towards a sustainable economy, thus perpetuating its role as a committed player. Committed to fostering the emergence of new solutions, it forms a natural part of the positive framework of the measures taken by public authorities to implement the green re-industrialisation project.
The English version of the guide will be published in the near future.