For years, Oxfam France, Friends of the Earth France and Notre Affaire à Tous have been warning about the heavy responsibility of finance in the climate crisis, and have been engaging with banks to prevent them from financing the fossil fuel industry, and denouncing the refusal of successive governments to regulate the financial sector. On the eve of the Climate Finance Day in Paris, and a few days before the opening of a new COP in Egypt, the three NGOs are today officially noticing BNP Paribas its failure to meet its duty of vigilance with regard to climate change.
Towards a lawsuit against a funder of climate chaos: BNP Paribas
Oxfam France, Friends of the Earth Frace and Notre Affaire à Tous are putting BNP Paribas on notice for failing to comply with its climate duty of vigilance. The three NGOs request BNP Paribas to immediately stop supporting – both directly and indirectly – new fossil fuel projects and comply with the Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting global warming to 1.5°C. BNP Paribas has now three months to comply with the law. In the absence of a satisfactory response from BNP Paribas, the NGOs will turn to the judge and take the multinational to court before the Paris Judicial Court.
The objective of this unprecedented action? To get the court to force BNP Paribas to adopt a real climate strategy and to immediately stop supporting fossil fuel expansion. This would be the first climate litigation in the world to confront a commercial bank with its legal obligations and to demand an immediate halt to support for new oil and gas projects. With this action, the three NGOs want to push not only BNP Paribas but the whole financial secor to take action to tacle cliamte change.
What is the law on the duty of vigilance ?
This pioneering French law is expected to make considerable progress in terms of environmental justice. It obliges certain large French multinational companies, including banks and other financial actors, to take measures to identify and prevent risks of serious violations of human rights, human health and safety, and the environment resulting from their own activities and those of companies they directly or indirectly control, as well as those of their suppliers and subcontractors with whom they have an established business relationship, both in France and abroad. These measures must be published annually in a vigilance plan, implemented effectively and monitored by the company to ensure their effectiveness.
How BNP Paribas is destroying the planet
By providing financial support to companies, individuals, local authorities and governments in France and abroad, banks enable these actors to pursue and develop their activities in sectors that are beneficial to the ecological and social transition or, on the contrary, harmful to the climate, the environment and human rights. At the top of the list of carbon footprint giants: BNP Paribas.
- BNP Paribas is the 1st European and 5th global funder of fossil fuel expansion between 2016 and 2021
- BNP Paribas is the 1st global financier of 8 oil and gas giants between 2016 and 2021
BNP Paribas plays a particularly important role in the expansion of fossil fuels through its significant support for the sector’s majors. Over the past few years, the bank with the green logo has been developing and communicating more and more frequently on new climate commitments. Indeed, the french bank has set itself the objective of complying with the Paris Agreement and achieving carbon neutrality by 2050, and has set out several sectoral policies aimed in particular at restricting its support for fossil fuels. But behind these announcements, the measures taken remain far too limited and ineffective in the face of the climate emergency.
Energy and climate crises: ending the expansion of fossil fuels
One priority is needed to limit global warming to 1.5°C: to immediately put an end to the development of fossil fuels, the main source – by far – of greenhouse gas emissions.
In fact, by comparing the global carbon budget to the world’s still exploitable coal, oil and gas reserves, many researchers – including those of the International Planel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the International Energy Agency – have demonstrated the impossibility of continuing to produce fossil fuels from our current stocks, nevermind through further expansion, if we want to stay below the 1.5 global warming limit.
Our dependency on fossil fuels has left us defenseless against the soaring energy prices with the poorest families being hit the hardest. We need to urgently stop those responsible and prevent them from dragging us into another crisis.
#AffaireBNP: Join the initiative!
This initiative is at the heart of a major campaign, including a petition, to raise people’s awareness of the role of BNP Paribas and the financial sector in the fight against the climate crisis.
To support this action, sign the petition!
