26/10/2022
On October 26th, 2022, Oxfam France, Friends of the Earth France and Notre Affaire à Tous launched the BNP Paribas case, sending the French bank a formal notice for non-compliance with its duty of vigilance with regard to climate change.
For years, we have been raising awareness about the fundamental role the financial industry has been playing in the climate crisis. BNP Paribas, the leading European funder of fossil fuel expansion between 2016 and 2021, is a champion in this discipline. Through its financial support, BNP Paribas is an accomplice to the giants of the fossil fuel industry (including Total, BP, Eni, and Shell) and is allowing projects that emit very high levels of greenhouse gases. These are veritable climate bombs, while we should be doing everything we can to radically reduce our emissions if we hope to limit global warming to 1.5°C.
By sending BNP a formal notice, we are giving the French bank 3 months to comply with the law and stop supporting the development of oil and gas projects. After this period, if the bank’s commitments are still not on the right track to tackle climate emergency, we are determined to turn to the judge and launch a legal action against the banking giant, whose carbon footprint exceeds the one of the entire French territory.
In a context of increasing warnings from the IPCC on the urgency to act, it is unacceptable that BNP Paribas benefits from the deleterious projects of the fossil industry – the bank’s shares have just taken the lead in the CAC 40 -, and uses the money of its 7 million customers to finance a headlong rush that is taking us further and further away from a liveable future.
Together, we can reverse the current trend and finally make BNP face its responsibilities. Support the BNP Paribas case, sign the petition!