PRESERVING AND RESTORING BIODIVERSITY
BNP PARIBAS HAS BEEN COMMITTED TO THE PRESERVATION OF BIODIVERSITY FOR SEVERAL YEARS THROUGH ITS FINANCING AND INVESTMENT POLICIES, CONSTRUCTIVE DIALOGUE WITH ITS CUSTOMERS, PARTICIPATION IN COLLECTIVE ACTIONS AND SUPPORT FOR RESEARCH AS PART OF ITS CORPORATE PHILANTHROPY POLICY. FULLY AWARE THAT OUR ACTIVITIES AND THOSE OF OUR CUSTOMERS PLAY A KEY ROLE IN THE PRESERVATION OF BIODIVERSITY, WE STRENGTHENED OUR ACTIONS IN 2021 TO PROTECT ECOSYSTEMS AND NATURAL CAPITAL.
PUBLICATION OF OUR POSITION ON BIODIVERSITY
As with oceans in 2019, the Group decided to publish a public position on biodiversity in 2021. This position outlines our commitment to acting on four major threats identified by the Intergovernmental Science‑Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES): changes in the use of land and sea, the direct exploitation of certain organisms, climate change and pollution.
COLLECTIVE ACTION TO PROTECT OUR NATURAL ECOSYSTEMS
Two Group experts, Sébastien Soleille, Global Head of Energy Transition and the Environment at BNP Paribas, and Robert‑Alexandre Poujade, ESG Analyst in charge of biodiversity at BNP Paribas Asset Management, joined the Taskforce on Nature‑related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) in 2021. The groundwork for this initiative — led by the United Nations, WWF and the Global Canopy think tank — was already laid by an informal working group set up in 2020 under the co‑chairmanship of Antoine Sire, our Head of Company Engagement. This taskforce is currently working to define a reporting framework to enable financial institutions to better describe their risks, dependencies and impacts on nature.
COMMITMENTS TO GO FURTHER
In line with our involvement in the Act4Nature coalition, we decided to go further in our actions by making new public commitments. Over the course of seven years, for the period from 2019 to 2025, we are targeting objectives of €3bn in financing related to the protection of terrestrial biodiversity and €1bn for the protection of marine biodiversity. We also aim to assess all our corporate clients based on biodiversity related criteria by 2025.
REINFORCED DIALOGUE
We are in dialogue with customers whose activity is related to commodities in sensitive countries and are encouraging them to demonstrate their commitment to combatting deforestation. For example, in the Amazon and Cerrado regions of Brazil, customers who produce or purchase beef or soybeans from these regions (such as producers, meat packers and traders) will only receive our financial products or services if they have a strategy in place to achieve zero deforestation in their production and supply chains by no later than 2025.
INVOLVED BUSINESS LINES
These commitments involve all our business lines. BNP Paribas Asset Management is thus continuing its research to provide greater transparency into the impact companies have on biodiversity. Through key partnerships, such as with the Iceberg Data Lab or the Carbon Disclosure Project, the business is establishing new measures and collecting information to publish the first biodiversity footprint for its investment portfolios during 2022.
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This is the volume of monthly investments recorded by BNP Paribas Personal Investors concerning the increase in eco responsible Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) compared to 2020. The entity is continuously developing its range of sustainable products and services for its investor clientele.