PARIS, Feb 23 (Reuters) – Three local weather activist teams on Thursday took authorized motion in a Paris courtroom towards BNP Paribas (BNPP.PA), alleging the financial institution’s loans to large oil and gasoline firms breach a legally binding responsibility in France to make sure its actions don’t hurt the setting.
Local weather campaigners are more and more utilizing lawsuits to push large firms to hurry up efforts to make the shift to a low-carbon economic system. In 2021, Shell was ordered by a Dutch courtroom to deepen its deliberate greenhouse gasoline emission cuts in a lawsuit filed by local weather activists.
French firms have grow to be a selected focus due to a 2017 regulation that requires them to draft environmental harm vigilance plans. A ruling in a case by environmental teams towards TotalEnergies (TTEF.PA), a shopper of BNP Paribas, is predicted on Tuesday.
In France, no courtroom has but pressured an organization to vary its methods on the premise of the 2017 regulation.
The three teams – Oxfam, Associates of the Earth and Notre Affaire à Tous – mentioned the lawsuit towards BNP Paribas is geared toward making the French financial institution cease and exit the financing of fossil fuels, in what they mentioned was a world first towards a industrial financial institution.
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Alexandre Poidatz, advocacy officer at Oxfam France, mentioned the financial institution “continues to write down new clean cheques to the biggest fossil gas firms with out setting any situations for an oil-free, gas-free ecological transition.”
BNP Paribas mentioned in an announcement to Reuters it regretted the advocacy teams’ selection of litigation over dialogue and that it couldn’t cease all fossil-fuel financing instantly.
“We’re satisfied that the ecological transition is the one viable path for the way forward for our economies,” the financial institution mentioned.
“We’re targeted on our fossil-fuel exit path, accelerating financing for renewable energies and supporting our clients, with out whom the transition can’t be made.”
FOSSIL FUELS
The three NGOs mentioned their authorized method towards BNP Paribas, the euro zone’s largest financial institution, was modeled on the case within the Netherlands through which Shell (SHEL.L) was ordered by a Dutch courtroom to deepen deliberate cuts in greenhouse gasoline emissions. Shell filed an enchantment towards the ruling final 12 months.
Oxfam, Associates of the Earth and Notre Affaire à Tous mentioned BNP Paribas was concerned in funding eight European and North American oil and gasoline firms, that are concerned in additional than 200 new fossil gas tasks around the globe.
The teams declare that whereas BNP Paribas doesn’t immediately finance these tasks, its common extension of credit score permits it to make climate-friendly claims, reminiscent of becoming a member of the Web Zero Banking Alliance, whereas persevering with to help probably damaging tasks by way of its banking shoppers.
The three teams cited the newest version of the “Banking on Local weather Chaos” report from RainforestAction Community, which mentioned that BNP Paribas ranks eighth among the many worldwide banks which have contributed probably the most to grease and gasoline manufacturing, with $142 billion value of financing in fossil fuels between 2016 and 2021.
BNP Paribas’ excellent loans for fossil fuels amounted to 23.7 billion euros at finish of Sept. 2022, the financial institution mentioned in an announcement final month.
The financial institution additionally mentioned it had stopped oil venture financing in 2016. “A dedication has been made to scale back excellent financing for oil extraction and manufacturing by 25% by 2025,” the financial institution mentioned.
In TotalEnergies’ case, subsequent Tuesday’s ruling will deal with a lawsuit by NGOs which alleges that the French vitality firm misled customers about its efforts to struggle local weather change.
The authorized declare considerations the corporate’s “reinvention” advertising and marketing marketing campaign. Claimants say the marketing campaign broke European client regulation by suggesting TotalEnergies can attain net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 while nonetheless producing extra fossil fuels.
Different lawsuits have focused Air France-KLM’s Dutch division and even the French state.
Reporting by Mathieu Rosemain and America Hernandez; Further reporting by Simon Jessop in London
Enhancing by Matthew Lewis, Ingrid Melander and Jane Merriman
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