After “The case of the century”, the BNP Paribas case? The non-governmental organizations Notre affaires à tous and Oxfam France, which helped bring the state to justice for its “climate inaction”now intend to open the “trial of a funder of climate chaos”. A first milestone was laid on Wednesday, October 26: the NGOs, joined in their approach by Friends of the Earth, formally put the first French bank on notice to stop supporting the development of fossil fuels, learned The world.
They are based on the law concerning the duty of vigilance, which obliges large French companies to identify risks and prevent serious attacks on the environment and human rights that may result from their activities. In this case, the associations criticize BNP Paribas for not applying it in climate matters, by continuing to finance oil and gas projects. They set an ultimatum to the banking group: it has three months to “to comply with the law”. Failing this, the associations will seize the Paris court. With the aim of achieving “first climate litigation in the world” involving a commercial bank. So far, States (France, the Netherlands) and oil groups (Shell) have been condemned.
“BNP Paribas is responsible for the climate crisis because it finances fossil fuels. She is in the process of becoming guilty, because, since the Paris agreement [sur le climat, conclu en décembre 2015, lors de la COP21], despite its great promises, the first French bank has still not turned off the tap, protests Cécile Duflot, director general of Oxfam France and former patroness of the Greens. We are convinced that justice will help us put an end to a hypocrisy that is becoming deadly. »
Why target BNP Paribas rather than another bank? Because she is the “first global funder of the main majors in the sector”, justifies Lorette Philippot, specialist in climate and financial issues at Friends of the Earth. Between 2016 (after the conclusion of the Paris agreement) and 2021, the group injected more than 43 billion dollars (43.4 billion euros) into the eight main European and American oil and gas companies.
“climate bombs”
No other bank in the world has invested so much over this period, according to data compiled in the 2022 edition of Banking on Climate Chaos, a benchmark report led by a dozen NGOs, including Reclaim Finance. The Americans City and JP Morgan Chase, which complete the podium, “only” injected 36 billion dollars over the same period. Still for comparison, the French Crédit Agricole and Société Générale rank ninth and tenth, with respectively 15 billion and 13 billion dollars. BNP Paribas is thus the leading financial backer for BP and Shell and the major financial backer for six other giants: Total, Chevron, ExxonMobil, ENI, Repsol and Equinor.
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