BNP Paribas is creating the Low-Carbon Transition Group, mobilising global resources to contribute to the acceleration of its corporate and institutional clients’ transition to a sustainable and low-carbon economy

• BNP Paribas is creating a dedicated organisation to support its corporate and institutional clients around the world in accelerating their transition to a sustainable and low-carbon economy.
• Building on BNP Paribas’ leadership in capital markets and sustainable finance, 100 new recruitments will be part of a 250-professionals team.
• This Low-Carbon Transition Group will also provide clients access to banking and extra banking expertise across the BNP Paribas Group including clean energy, mobility and built environment solutions.

The fight against climate change implies massive investments on the part of Corporates, Institutions and Public sector in terms of technologies, infrastructure and transformation of their organisation. As the leading European bank for corporates and institutions, present in all global financial centers, BNP Paribas has developed over the past few years a full range of expertise dedicated to the transition as well as strategies to channel financial flows towards projects and companies that are building a low-carbon world. True to its corporate mission, BNP Paribas is committed to being the long-term partner for its clients, acknowledging the growing urgency of the climate crisis and embracing the shared objectives in moving towards a low-carbon economy.

Building on the expertise built up over the past few years, BNP Paribas is now creating a dedicated and agile organisation to support its clients around the world. The Low-Carbon Transition Group, headed by Severine Mateo, will help BNP Paribas clients accelerate their transition by bringing together more than 250 professionals worldwide, of which 150 from advisory, capital markets and industry teams currently involved in low-carbon transition, and 100 new recruitments. This group will also provide access to the full spectrum of expertise across the BNP Paribas Group including clean energy, mobility and built environment solutions.

The team is dedicated to support established corporate clients in their transition through the decarbonisation of their activities and the investment in new businesses; innovative transition accelerators in their scale-up and development phases; and investors to channel their capital deployment towards low-carbon activities.

BNP Paribas will work with its clients to advise them upon the acceleration of their business models’ evolution, align their capital structure to sustainability requirements and ambitions, help them compensate residual carbon footprint, and ultimately partner to support the transitioning of their day-to-day operations.

To best support clients’ transition, the Low-Carbon Transition Group will mobilise a comprehensive range of relevant capabilities and a network of experts in sustainable transitions across the BNP Paribas integrated model. In addition to a wide range of Corporate & Institutional banking solutions, the Group will also rely on the competence in mobility within Arval, Leasing Solutions and Personal Finance, the expertise in high performance buildings by BNP Paribas Real Estate, the sustainable and thematic funds of BNP Paribas Asset Management, the investment expertise of BNP Paribas Cardif and BNP Paribas Principal Investments, the advising expertise for individuals through BNP Paribas Wealth Management, and the climate and biodiversity expertise of BNP Paribas Company Engagement/CSR. 

 “The uniqueness of what we bring to our clients is also our ability to mobilise low-carbon transition expertise beyond banking, that we have been building over the last ten years. As a member of the Net-Zero Banking Alliance, we are determined to strengthen our climate action, in order to help our clients and our world to face the challenges of the future.”

Jean-Laurent Bonnafé, Director and Chief Executive Officer of BNP Paribas

The team will build upon BNP Paribas’ track-record, such as:

• #1 in Sustainable Finance #1 Global Sustainable Bonds in Volume, FY2020 (Bloomberg) & #1 Global Sustainability Linked Loans Volumes by MLA, FY 2020 (Dealogic) ; 2021 IFR & Euromoney award of Best Bank for Sustainable Finance
• #1 ranked Equity Research & Sales Team (2021 Developed Europe Institutional Investor Survey)
• Leading equity and debt EMEA distribution capabilities
• #2 in Renewables Project Finance for EMEA and #4 Global in Volume by MLA, FY2020 (Dealogic)
• #1 in Asset Management sustainable thematic strategies (Broadridge), TOP 3 Global responsible investment manager (ShareAction), #1 best long only strategy in 2020 (Financial Times).

Biography - Séverine Mateo

Séverine Mateo has over 20 years’ experience in advising companies on their financing strategies, covering a wide range of roles for different geographies, from restructuring of distressed situations to innovative debt structuring & advisory. Since 2016, she has been ramping up the Energy, Resources and Infrastructure department, and led the team to become a leader in Debt advisory and Renewable Energy Financing in EMEA. Séverine Mateo began her career as researcher on agricultural policies for the Centre International de Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (CIRAD - The French agricultural research and international cooperation organisation). She is an Engineer in Agronomy and holds a PhD from Paris Panthéon-Sorbonne University.