Our experts in sustainable finance

To best support the transition of its varied client groups – companies, institutions, individuals – BNP Paribas has embarked on a training and transformation process. To upgrade skills in every aspect of sustainable finance and ecological transition, all our teams are regularly trained in these areas and have access to many dedicated resources. They also benefit from poles of high expertise, made available through dedicated networks and working groups.

Supporting our clients in their transformation

For BNP Paribas, acting for a transition both rapid and acceptable to citizens means giving our clients concrete assistance to transform themselves. However, financing the transition requires highly varied expertise, to meet the wide-ranging needs of all our clients: support for energy companies, to offer increasingly low-carbon energy; advice to individuals, to make their savings more responsible or their homes less energy-intensive; support for entrepreneurs carrying out societal projects and for small- and medium-sized businesses that are reviewing their model... The whole Group, accross 63 countries, is thus mobilising to serve its clients. Focus on two expert teams that are making change happen.

The Low-Carbon Transition Group, to support large companies in energy transition around the world

Since its creation in October 2021 (see press release), our Low Carbon Transition Group has been working on the energy transition of large companies. The team now gathers nearly 200 international experts from various Group entities, including consulting and capital markets. Its role? “We provide our clients – key accounts, start-ups and institutional investors – with our banking and extra-banking expertise. The team is primarily mobilised around three key topics: clean energy, sustainable mobility and new technologies useful for decarbonisation,” explains Séverine Mateo, Head of the Low-Carbon Transition Group.

The C2A team (Climate Analytics and Alignment): data science at the service of the net-zero objective

In order to model the alignment of its financing portfolio with its climate objectives of carbon neutrality in 2050, and to help make the necessary credit decisions, BNP Paribas has created a team of data scientists dubbed “C2A”, for “Climate Analytics and Alignment”. “My team and I rely on data provided by climate scientists, such as the IPCC or the International Energy Agency”, explains Imène Ben Rejeb-Mzah, Head of Climate Analytics and Alignment (C2A) Data Analytics. This allows us to quantify, sector by sector, the climate performance targets of our portfolio, but also to calculate the average emission intensity of the Group’s portfolio and compare it to the average performance of the economy, in order to model and compare the two trajectories.”

To find out more about BNP Paribas’ support for its clients

Moving forward together: working groups and coalitions

Through their financing activity, banks can act in a very tangible way for a more sustainable and inclusive society. Convinced that the entire financial sector must mobilise, just like public players, BNP Paribas participates in several working groups and coalitions. A founding member of the Net-Zero Banking Alliance, launched by UN Environment with the aim of mobilising the financial sector for the climate, BNP Paribas also participates in numerous working groups, such as the “Task Force on Nature-related Financial Disclosures” (or TNFD) to create a reporting framework with standardised criteria, to better assess the management of nature-related impacts, risks and opportunities. As for the PACTA methodology, used by the C2A team to measure the alignment of the Group’s credit portfolios, it was co-developed with a think tank and four other banks, in open-source format, so that it can be used beyond the co-creator companies.

To know more about coalitions

Advancing together towards a just transition  

Sustainable finance feeds into all our business lines, whatever their activity or clientele: responsible savings and investment, with BNP Paribas Asset Management or BNP Paribas Cardif, social entrepreneurship or supporting private individuals for our retail banks, or even the creation of green and sustainability bonds for large corporate entities via our CIB pole. The Group is convinced that these results can only be achieved with trained and experienced teams, at the forefront on these issues. BNP Paribas has been working for several years to bring together specialists and upgrade the expertise of all its teams, and is now picking up the pace.

BNP Paribas and its “Sustainability Academy”

Supporting its clients in their transition to sustainable solutions and practices is one of the Group’s strategic priorities. But in order to provide support, you need to know where to go: which is why BNP Paribas has set out to train and inform all its 190,000 employees about the issues of ecological transition, by offering them access since autumn 2022 to its “Sustainability Academy”, which follows in the steps of previous initiatives such as “We Engage”. Designed to give teams an overview of sustainable finance and bolster their skill sets in this area, the platform brings together a wealth of content – dedicated training courses, change management tools, practical sheets, news – designed internally or selected outside the Group and regularly updated. The Academy allows everyone, whatever their country, entity or business line, to develop a genuine culture and a solid grasp of sustainable finance, to answer all questions concerning the Group’s commitments and actions, and therefore to best respond to the questions and expectations of clients. Co-constructed with the Group’s various business lines, the platform will be gradually enhanced with new resources based on the feedback and needs of the teams, as well as developments in the field. 

The NEST, a cross-functional and international network of experts in sustainable finance

Each person currently working within the Group can also contact the experts in sustainable finance at BNP Paribas. We are talking about more than 500 real specialists, brought together within the cross-functional NEST network (standing for “Network of Experts in Sustainability Transitions”): experts in fields as varied as energy transition, circular economy, biodiversity, agriculture and human rights, not to mention diversity and social inclusion. To extend the knowledge of sustainable finance of all the Group’s stakeholders, from its teams to its clients, the NEST also pools the expertise of its members and shares it through internal conferences and a quarterly publication intended for all audiences, “Perspectives”.

Find all "Perspectives" issues here

The Climate Fresk at BNP Paribas, to better understand climate change

What is the Climate Fresk exactly? A three-hour workshop to understand the essentials of climate issues and take action. The participants design a “fresk” together, linking the causes and consequences of climate change, using game cards created according to the reports of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) and so creating a global vision of the climate emergency. By mid-2022, more than 1,500 Group employees had already taken part in one of these workshops.

Further insights