Societe Generale SA Further Reduces Ties With Coal
24 May 2019 - 3:42AM
Dow Jones News
By Maitane Sardon
Societe Generale SA (GLE.FR) is further limiting its ties to the
coal industry, as the French bank works toward aligning its
activities with the Paris Agreement on climate change.
SocGen said Thursday that it will cut ties with companies that
plan to expand their thermal coal capacities and will also stop
offering financial services and products to clients whose thermal
coal activities represent 50% or more of their total activity.
The lender will also halt its interaction with businesses whose
thermal coal activities represent 30% to 50% of their total if they
don't have a reduction strategy in place to reduce that share to
less than 30% by 2025.
The French group stated its intention to reduce its involvement
in the fossil fuel sector in 2015, saying at the time that it aimed
to limit its portfolio exposure to coal in line with the two-degree
scenario set by the Paris Agreement as the global warming limit
that will require drastic emissions cuts. SocGen stopped financing
coal-related projects the following year.
Financial companies and banks are gradually cutting ties with
carbon-intensive fuel sources. BNP Paribas Asset Management said
last month it will stop investing in companies that derive more
than 10% of their revenue from mining thermal coal or account for
more than 1% of total global coal production in 2020.
Last year, French insurer AXA SA (CS.FR) said its AXA XL
division would stop insuring coal businesses.
Write to Maitane Sardon at maitane.sardon@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 23, 2019 13:27 ET (17:27 GMT)
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