The central bank of France is mulling to bolster efforts to cut its exposure to the oil and gas industry over the next four years in order to use more resources for cleantech energy projects.
It is reported that the bank will discontinue to provide financial support to companies that generate 50 percent revenue from gas and over a tenth of revenue from oil. Furthermore, the bank of France will no longer provide loans to shale oil and gas companies including the companies which are looking to carry out deep-water projects in the future.
The bank is also planning to remain as an activist shareholder in oil and gas companies, committing to vote against the new development of fossil fuel projects that are floated by companies where it holds a stake. The bank of France will also curb loans towards the coal industry by halting investments in companies that generate over 2 percent of their revenues from coal.
Currently, the bank provides loans to companies that generate 10 percent of their revenue from coal. The bank aims to withdraw from all the companies by 2024, that generates any amount of revenue from coal.
The global oil and gas majors are under pressure as shareholders are demanding them to focus on becoming fully carbon neutral in the future and to take climate change actions. The banks have also started taking climatic issues seriously in order to support the global economies ‘s to achieve climatic goals.