Coal, a highly polluting fossil fuel, is an important factor in global warming. To contain the planet's thermometer at + 1.5 ° C compared to the pre-industrial period, experts from the IPCC - the benchmark intergovernmental scientific body - estimate that 78% of coal-fired power plants will have to be shut down by 2030 While there are more than 6700 production units worldwide.
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In recent years, awareness has grown. Since the Cop 21 in Paris, more than 130 financial investors (banks, insurance companies, asset managers ...) have adopted policies limiting their commitments in coal, welcomes the NGO Reclaim Finance. In France, this concerns 40 financial institutions, grouped into 25 groups.
"Over a thousand coal projects still on the table"
But where the rub is, it is on the “quality of the projects” , deplores the general director Lucie Pinson. The trajectories are not ambitious enough, not in line with the course of 1.5 °, and not precise enough on the means to achieve it. "More than 1,000 projects for new plants are still on the table," said the activist. Last year, under pressure from NGOs, the French government, de Bercy, the professional federations and Europlace called on financial players to adopt a coal strategy by mid-2020. The deadline is approaching.
The NGO is making public this Wednesday an analysis tool, interactive and constantly updated, which scrutinizes these strategies of large French financial investors on the basis of five criteria. Do they finance coal projects? Do they exclude companies developing new projects? Do they exclude companies according to the share of coal in their income and electricity production? Do they exclude companies according to their annual coal production and according to the annual coal electricity production? And finally, what are the coal exit commitments? With the key, a notation from 1 to 10 and a color code: green, yellow, orange and red.
Highly rated mutual credit
“The objective is to facilitate comparison. The observation is that there is still a lot of red, says Lucie Pinson. We have contacted all of the players and the federations who will be doing follow-up work ” .
Five good students stand out: AG2R La Mondiale, Axa, Postal Bank, Crédit Agricole and Crédit Mutuel. Crédit Agricole, for example, is green, rated 9 and 10, on three criteria: project finance, developers and exit strategy (complete in OECD countries by 2030 and worldwide in 2040 ). The tool points to shortcomings: "the bank must use the right parameters to assess the share of companies' coal activities and call on its customers to adopt a plan to close, not sell, their coal infrastructure , " it said. in note.
Crédit Mutuel does even better, rated 9 and 10 on all criteria. The bank "announced in March 2020 the most comprehensive coal policy to date in the sector," comments Reclaim Finance.
Edmond Rotschild, Scor and BNP Paribas pinned
Conversely, several asset managers such as Edmond Rotschild, La Française, Oddo BHF AM, or Carmignac, the insurer Groupama, the reinsurer Scor and the bank BNP Paribas are in the red. "BNP Paribas is way behind its peers," said Yann Louvel, political analyst for Reclaim Finance. While the bank, the leading European financier, has significant exposure to coal, with more than 8.8 billion in financial commitments (loans, bond issues, shares).
The NGO considers the course - gradual exit by 2030 in the European Union and 2040 worldwide - insufficient and awaits the details of the measures to achieve this. "The 2030 target excludes the other OECD countries (including the United States, Australia, Chile) which represent 20% of the installed capacity" , underlines Lucie Pinson. Details should be provided on the coal strategy at the general meeting on May 19.
Total's climate commitments criticized
In addition, the NGO Reclaim finance criticized the climate commitments presented on Tuesday by Total, during the presentation of the results. Under pressure from investors who tabled a resolution before the general meeting at the end of May, the oil giant promises "carbon neutrality" by 2050. "The company does not explain how to reach this goal," criticizes Lucie. Finch.
A second reservation concerns the perimeter. In detail, Total aims for neutrality in 2050 of the emissions from its global operations (drilling, production, refining). On the other hand, in terms of emissions linked to products sold to its customers (such as the liter of petrol burned in a car), the scale is limited to Europe where “the transition is already under way due to the development of the electric car, " minimizes Lucie Pinson. As for the announcement to reduce the average carbon intensity by 60%, the NGO regrets that there is no commitment to reduce the absolute value of emissions. “Clearly, a barrel will have to be less emitting, but that doesn't mean fewer barrels. Total is always looking to produce more, ” concludes the representative of Reclaim Finance.
