French bank BNP Paribas sued for financing fossil fuel companies
Three climate advocacy groups are filing a suit against French bank BNP Paribas for making a “significant contribution” to global warming by lending to fossil fuel companies, in what they say is the first time a commercial bank is being targeted for climate-related financing.
Issued on:
Oxfam France, Friends of the Earth France and Notre Affaire à Tous are suing the eurozone’s largest bank on the grounds that its financing of oil and gas companies breaches a legally binding duty to ensure its activities do not harm the environment.
"BNP Paribas continues to write new blank cheques to the largest fossil fuel companies without setting any conditions for an oil-free, gas-free ecological transition," said Alexandre Poidatz, advocacy officer at Oxfam France, in a statement anouncing the lawsuit.
A French law adopted in 2017 requires companies to draft environmental damage vigilance plans, but no court in France has yet to force any to change their practices based on the law.
The NGOs, which sent BNP Paribas a formal notice on 26 October, said their legal approach is modeled on a lawsuit against Shell, which in 2021 was forced by a Dutch court to drastically reduce the greenhouse gas emissions of its global operations.
While BNP does not directly finance such projects, the groups say its general extension of credit allows it to continue supporting potentially damaging projects via its banking clients, while making climate-friendly claims.
In a statement sent to reporters, BNP Paribas said it regretted the groups chose litigation over dialogue, and it said it could not stop all fossil fuel financing right away.
At the end of January, BNP Paribas announced it would be cutting its financing of fossil fuel extraction and production projects by 80 percent, to less than a billion euros, by 2030.
Going to court for climate action
Legal activism is an increasingly popular move for campaigners as they seek to push companies to move faster in the shift to a low-carbon economy.
The case against BNP joins a number of other lawsuits, based on a range of laws, targeting companies ranging from Air France-KLM's Dutch branch to Shell, TotalEnergies and even the French state.
A much-awaited ruling in a similar case against TotalEnergies – a top client of BNP's – is expected early next week.
Read also:
- Landmark lawsuit finds France guilty of climate failures
- Multinationals charged with greenwashing as they fail to meet climate pledges
Daily newsletterReceive essential international news every morning
Subscribe