2020 Universal registration document and annual financial report - BNP PARIBAS 599
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A COMMITTED BANK: INFORMATION CONCERNING THE ECONOMIC, SOCIAL, CIVIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY OF BNP PARIBAS
Our environmental responsibility: accelerating the ecological and energy transition
Support for the energy renovation of housing
French Retail Banking has co-developed the monprojetrenovation.com website, which offers a complete programme, from energy diagnostics to identifying eligible subsidies and tax credits. In addition, it offers Énergibio loans at preferential rates (0% or 1%), dedicated to financing renovation work. In November 2020, the volume of Énergibio loans increased by almost 30% compared to 2019, with more than 2,000 loans.
Also in France, BNP Paribas Personal Finance joined forces with EDF to create Domofinance. In particular, it is one of the only two players in France offering an energy renovation loan solution adapted to condominiums. Overall, BNP Paribas Personal Finance s total outstandings dedicated to the energy transition amounted to EUR 2.2 billion at the end of 2020, up 5% compared to 2019.
The Group is also actively involved in discussions on the subject as part of the French recovery plan. Two BNP Paribas representatives spoke as experts in energy renovation before the Housing group of the Citizen s Climate Convention. A representative of BNP Paribas also took part in the energy renovation task force launched by the French government in the summer of 2020 to detail proposals for the energy renovation component of the recovery plan.
In Belgium, BNP Paribas Fortis offers green energy loans at preferential rates to finance work to reduce household energy consumption. At the end of 2020, these green retail mortgages totalled EUR 3.75 billion.
In Poland, BNP Paribas Polska has been offering green home loans since September 2020, the rate of which is reduced by 0.1% if the property meets strict criteria for environmental certification and energy consumption per square meter.
In the UK, BNP Paribas Personal Finance has unveiled several innovative propositions including: a platform for connecting customers with installers (certified by TrustMark, a government body), and a partnership with the energy company E.ON, resulting in a product that combines an audit of energy efficiency improvements with financing of the work. Approx. GBP 31 million were committed in the UK in 2020 to renovate homes.
In the United States, Bank of the West offers home loans at a rate reduced by 0.25% for projects that include energy efficiency work or the installation of solar panels.
Consumer loans to finance more sustainable goods
The BNP Paribas Personal Finance subsidiary, which specialises in consumer credit, develops innovative offers to help its customers acquire assets that support their ecological transition.
In France, an ecological car loan at a preferential rate of 1% is offered to customers for the purchase of an electric bicycle or a vehicle eligible for the ecological bonus or the State ecological subsidy. In addition, an online simulator allows customers to easily choose their used vehicle according to its CO2 emissions rate.
In Italy, a green loan at an attractive rate is offered to individuals to finance renewable energy installations, energy efficiency work or the purchase of hybrid or electric vehicles.
Contributing to climate change adaptation efforts
In addition to its efforts to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, BNP Paribas is also involved in efforts to adapt to the already tangible effects of climate change, particularly through microfinance projects (see Products and services that are widely accessible, Commitment 7).
Donations from the Group s employees, matched by the Bank, are used to finance initiatives carried out by the NGO partners of the Rescue & Recover Fund for inhabitants of regions particularly vulnerable to the consequences of climate change, or directly affected by those consequences as well as actions to preserve biodiversity. This was the case in particular for the victims of the fires that devastated Australia at the end of 2019 and the beginning of 2020, for an amount of EUR 90,000 (see Corporate philanthropy policy focused on the arts, solidarity and the environment, Commitment 9). Since 2020 the Rescue and Recover Fund has also supported an NGO specialising in animal protection, the IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare); its grant to this association amounted to EUR 65,000 in 2020 (see the paragraph Rescue and Recover Fund: eight years of humanitarian aid in Corporate philanthropy policy focused on the arts, solidarity and the environment, Commitment 9).
SUPPORTING THE ROLE OF WOMEN IN THE FIGHT AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE While many studies show that women bear the brunt of the consequences of climate change, they can also provide solutions to effect the necessary change. BNP Paribas is actively working on this issue as a Strategic Member of the Women and Climate Daring Circle of the Women s Forum, and in particular the circulation of the charter signed in June 2019 entitled Accelerating inclusion: women leaders in climate action .
In Senegal, where women account for more than 70% of workers in the agricultural sector, BNP Paribas financed the UN Women AgriFed programme to empower 15,000 women rice entrepreneurs with climate- resilient agriculture. This programme entered a new phase in 2020: BNP Paribas has set up a credit line of EUR 600,000 for the local micro- credit institution Baobab Senegal, enabling it to offer competitive loans to women who want to develop their climate-resilient activity.
The role of women in the fight against climate change is also the cornerstone of the Group s commitment to the One Planet Fellowship , launched in 2019, whose objective is to help more than 600 researchers, more than half of them women, in their work on resilience and adaptation techniques to climate change that is already hitting Africa. In 2020, the programme selected 45 researchers, including 25 women, and started a high-level mentoring programme with them (see Support research and develop knowledge on climate change and biodiversity in Advance awareness and sharing of best environmental practices, Commitment 12).