Corporate philanthropy
2020-11-09
The BNP Paribas Foundation supports projects that encourage solidarity, protection of the environment and culture, with a particular focus on youth and innovation. As major players in Corporate Philanthropy since 1984, we are convinced of the impact that the projects we support have as key drivers of transformation in society.
In its commitment to environment, the BNP Paribas Foundation supports research on climate change and biodiversity loss with a total budget of €18 million. Altogether, 27 teams of researchers, professors and engineers have received funding since the Climate & Biodiversity Initiative programme’s inception in 2010. In addition, thanks to these research teams’ efforts, awareness on environmental issues has been raised among over 700,000 people through lectures, exhibits and other public events.
From 2023 to 2025, 8 new international research projects will be supported by the BNP Paribas Foundation.
The Foundation's commitment to the environment since 2010
€18 M
dedicated to environmental research on climate and biodiversity
27
international research projects supported, 70% of projects are (co)-led by a woman
700,000
people made aware of environmental issues
Climate & Biodiversity Initiative
Today, climate change is becoming the main driver of biodiversity erosion. Protecting and preserving ecosystems are now major concerns worldwide. That is why the BNP Paribas Foundation renamed its programme as the “Climate & Biodiversity Initiative” in 2019. The call for projects now supports scientific research on both climate and biodiversity.
In 2023, 8 new research projects will join the Climate & Biodiversity Initiative programme.
Climate and Biodiversity Initiative: the challenge of preserving biodiversity
Climate change and biodiversity erosion are two of today's most important challenges.
Members of the scientific committee of the 2022 call for projects
- Yunne Shin – Director of Research at IRD and Honorary Research Associate at University of Cape Town
- Philippe Gillet – Geophysicist, geologist and professor, Federal Polytechnic School of Lausanne
- Philippe Cury – Senior scientist at IRD (French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development)
- Jean-Pascal van Ypersele – PhD in physics, climatologist, professor at the Catholic University of Louvain, where he co-directs the environmental management master’s program. Member of the Earth and Climate Research Centre
- Franck Courchamp – CNRS Research Director at the Systematic Ecology and Evolution Laboratory (ESE-CNRS/Université Paris-Sud), 2014 laureate of the “Climate & Biodiversity Initiative”
- Jean-Pierre Gattuso – CNRS Research Director at the the Villefranche Oceanography Laboratory (CNRS/Sorbonne University/Iddri), 2010 laureate of the “Climate & Biodiversity Initiative”
- Marie-Pierre Ledru – Director of Research at IRD, working at the Institute of Evolutionary Sciences of Montpellier, 2017 laureate of the “Climate & Biodiversity Initiative”
- Lydie Lardy – Director of Research in Soil Ecology at IRD, 2017 laureate of the “Climate & Biodiversity Initiative”
DISCOVER THE CLIMATE & BIODIVERSITY INITIATIVE PROGRAMME'S SELECTION PROCESS
Facing up the climate challenge with biodiversity
Find out more about our Climate & Biodiversity Initiative programme and discover the projects supported, the selection process, replays of the conferences and all the news around the program.
Raising awareness of environmental issues
Thanks to the research projects it supports, the BNP Paribas Foundation implements awareness-raising activities every year, familiarizing the public, BNP Paribas employees and its partners with environmental issues.
For example, to raise awareness among all its audiences, the BNP Paribas Foundation organises conferences to understand better phenomena connected to climate disruption, their consequences on biodiversity and by extension on our societies.
The researchers involved in the projects selected through the Climate & Biodiversity Initiative deliver the lectures.
Discover the ‘Climate & Biodiversity Initiative’ conferences
In the fall of 2021, the BNP Paribas Foundation supported the expedition to Guyana of Delphine Zigoni and Julien Norwood, two naturalist illustrators. In 2022, the Foundation renewed its support by contributing to the exhibition « Automne Tropical – Carnets de voyage en Guyane », which presented their work at the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelles in Paris.
In addition, in 2018, the French Association of Science Journalists (AJSPI) and the BNP Paribas Foundation presented their first Climate Investigation Grant (CIG) for European science journalists. Taken over in 2020 by the European Federation for Science Journalism (EFSJ) on the occasion of the 2nd edition, this grant is awarded every two years.
The Foundation also supported the Global Youth Video Competition to encourage the youth taking part in activities to fight climate change. The annual awards ceremony takes place each year at the COPs organised by UNFCCC.
Moreover, marking the International Year of the Reef in 2018, the BNP Paribas Foundation funded the Reef Services project which aim is to better understand and predict the consequences of global warming on coral reefs as well as highlight the services they provide. A web platform, Corals Matter, was created in collaboration with the Association of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC) to provide the public with the tools and information needed to protect marine biodiversity.
The Foundation also rewarded the work of Valentine Meunier, researcher at the IRD (French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development) in New Caledonia, through the 2020 edition of the Prize for young researchers by the French Foundation for Biodiversity Research (FRB). Her research look into the interaction between corals and planktonic diazotrophs in the context of climate change.
Photo: header © Dean Jacobsen / Summit of Cotopaxi volcano (5900 m) covered in snow in Ecuador
