Societal project : Supporting our customers towards a fair transition

Chapter 2 : Group Project and 2022 Medium-Term Plan

Societal project : Supporting our customers towards a fair transition

SOCIETAL PROJECT: SUPPORTING OUR CUSTOMERS TOWARDS A FAIR TRANSITION 



Our responsibility is to help create the conditions for a successful transition. Today, all societies, all economies are operating massively through fossil fuels. And when they don’t work with fossil fuels themselves, they import goods that have been produced by carbon energy. The urgency of changing this state of fact does not make the task easier, on the contrary. 

HOW ?

Through socially responsible investment and financing, because all of these changes must follow a balanced path that does not penalize the most vulnerable populations.

AMBITION 1

PURSUING OUR MUTUALIST COMMITMENT TO INCLUSIVE DEVELOPMENT 

  • Drawing upon our strong local network, in particular through the presence of the Regional Banks in the regions, to promote fairer economic development
  • Developing new forms of social and environmental impact companies and intervening in favour of the economic development of populations in emerging countries
  • Reinforcing social ties locally

AMBITION 2

MAKING GREEN FINANCE A KEY GROWTH DRIVER FOR THE GROUP  

  • Committing all the Group’s entities to a common climate strategy, in line with the Paris Agreement; its implementation will be certified by an independent body and published in 2020 based on the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD)
  • Strengthening our commitments to finance the energy transition: total disengagement of thermal coal in 2030 for EU and OECD countries, and in 2040 for the rest of the world
  • Assigning a transition rating to large corporate customers in order to structure dialogue with them on their energy transition roadmap

AMBITION 3

BEING AN INFLUENTIAL PLAYER IN A MORE INCLUSIVE AND LESS CARBON-INTENSIVE ECONOMY 

  • Becoming the leading European player in responsible investment
  • Promoting green and responsible investment policies
  • Implementing actions to preserve biodiversity

Philippe Brassac, Chief Executive Officer

All of our business lines and activities must foster positive evolutions on the societal front, and contribute to improve the environment. Responsibility is no longer added but incorporated into the business lines.

OUR 2022 TARGET NUMBERS

€20bn 
Current Environmental Initiatives (Amundi)

Double the size of our green finance portfolio to reach
€13bn (Crédit Agricole CIB)

100%
of assets under active management with an ESG rating (Amundi, by 2021)

Invest €6bn
of the cash portfolio in socially responsible financial products (Crédit Agricole S.A.)

Cécile Duflot, Executive Director of OXFAM France 

We congratulate Crédit Agricole for adopting a coal strategy aligned with the Paris Agreement, and for its commitment to exclude from its portfolio any company that develops coal-related projects. The bank has thus shown exemplary behaviour. Nevertheless, we expect Crédit Agricole to follow the same requirements for other oil and gas companies.

OUR ACHIEVEMENTS

PREVENTION OF OVER-INDEBTEDNESS
  • In 2019, CA Consumer Finance France identified 15,624 customers in situations of vulnerability (15,010 in 2018). Among these, 3,617 customers benefited from personalised support from the Customer Support Agency
  • The Group also offers personalised support to customers in situations of vulnerability, whether due to circumstances (following a life crisis) or to the need for structural support, through the national LCL Parenthèse unit and the Regional Banks’ Points Passerelle schemes
INNOVATIVE CLIMATE GOVERNANCE
  • In order to ensure the steering and success of employmentrelated commitments, the Group has established a Societal Project Committee consisting of 12 senior executives from all the entities of Crédit Agricole Group and two operational committees to guide its recommendations: a Monitoring Committee and a Scientific Committee; this governance will steer the climate strategy by ensuring that the Paris Agreement is followed in line with the economic development of the regions and climate transition
CLIMATE RISK MANAGEMENT AND ESG
  • For several years, the Group has engaged in work to better understand and manage climate risks: by estimating the carbon footprint of its finance and investment portfolio and defining four scenarios related to climate risks (physical impacts and transition risks)
  • As part of its climate strategy, the Group has put in place a “transition rating” to measure the level of commitment and capacity of corporate customers to adapt their economic model to the challenges posed by the fight against global warming and the energy transition. Both a dialogue and decision-making tool, this rating will be added to the financial rating and will provide a better-rounded picture of the customer’s business case; the rating will be defined by 2020 and based on the combined expertise of CACIB and Amundi

WORLD LEADER IN GREEN FINANCE

In 2019, CACIB structured €42.9bn of Green bonds and innovated by participating in the issuance of the very first Sustainability Linked Bond for Enel.