2020 Universal registration document and annual financial report - BNP PARIBAS600

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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

CONTRIBUTING TO PROTECTING BIODIVERSITY AND THE OCEANS For several years, BNP Paribas has been actively involved in protecting biodiversity through initiatives focusing on its indirect impacts, linked to its financing activities (where the most significant issues are at stake), and its direct impacts (see Rigorous management of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) risks, Commitment 3 and Biodiversity conservation at our sites in Reduce the environmental footprint of our own operations, Commitment 11).

Financing and investment policies to limit impacts on biodiversity

Since 2012 BNP Paribas has set up financing and investment policies(1) governing its activities in sectors considered sensitive from a biodiversity point of view: agriculture (including livestock and forestry), palm oil, wood pulp, mining, unconventional oil and gas. In 2017, the palm oil financing

and investment policy was strengthened to require customers to commit to respecting the NDPE (No Deforestation, No Peat, No Exploitation) and HCS (High Carbon Stock Approach).

BNP Paribas maintains an ongoing dialogue with its clients to ensure that they implement best practices to protect natural ecosystems and biodiversity. In particular, the Group asks agricultural commodity trading companies to develop a traceability system for the products they sell.

Voluntary commitments made within the Act4nature initiative

2020 marks the first deadline for the commitments made publicly by BNP Paribas in favour of biodiversity under the voluntary initiative. Act4nature. Managed by the association Entreprises pour l Environnement (EpE), this alliance between companies, public authorities, scientists and environmental associations aims to create an international collective dynamic to protect, value and restore biodiversity.

(1) For more information: https://group.bnpparibas/en/financing-investment-policies

The status of Act4nature commitments made by BNP Paribas in 2018 is as follows:

Commitments 2018 Status 2020

In its financing and investing activities, BNP Paribas has undertaken to eliminate deforestation from its portfolio by 2020, as part of its commitment to the "zero net deforestation" goal set out in the Soft Commodities Compact, launched jointly by the Consumer Goods Forum and the Banking Environment Initiative.

This objective was taken as part of the collective initiative Soft Commodities Compact, managed by the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL), which ended at the end of 2020. The collective work did not make it possible to achieve the objective set but led to significant progress by its members, including BNP Paribas, in this area.(1)

In practical terms, BNP Paribas requires its clients in the farming, palm oil production, pulp and paper, and mining sectors to protect High Conservation Value (HCV) forests and to prohibit slash-and-burn practices. These criteria have been included in the financing and investment policies

(see Financing and investment policies to limit impacts on biodiversity , Commitment 10). In the palm oil production sector, it also requires its clients to have a policy for the protection of high carbon stock forests ("High Carbon Stock Approach").

In addition, BNP Paribas is participating in the research conducted by CDC Biodiversité to develop biodiversity performance indicators for certain business sectors (such as farming) and by extension for the portfolios of banks that support those sectors. The first report was published in March 2018. Research is still under way, with the aim of developing a methodology by 2020.

BNP Paribas continued its involvement in the work of Caisse des Dépôts Biodiversité (including a test on part of the BNP Paribas portfolio). Steps are also taken with other partners to advance the biodiversity measurement and reporting framework (see Active participation in several methodological initiatives related to biodiversity, Commitment 12).