BNP Paribas pledges no new loans for oil drilling in Amazon rainforest

By Tommy Wilkes

LONDON Reuters – Frances BNP Paribas pledged on Tuesday to end most new financing for oil production in the Amazon rainforest and said it would reduce its “financed emissions intensity” in the energy and auto sectors.

Emissions intensity is a measure of emissions relative to output that some climate activists have said does not go far enough.

BNP Paribas and more than 100 other banks have pledged to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050 but are under pressure to provide details on the deep shorterterm cuts to “financed emissions” that are needed if they are to have any chance of meeting their goal.

BNP Paribas said for upstream oil and gas refining, its financed emissions intensity will fall by at least 10 by 2025 for automotive clients by at least 25 and for power generation businesses by at least 30.

“Our strategy is threefold: align our portfolio with our netzero commitment measure and pilot our carbonrelated risks and broaden and deepen client relationships to support them as they make their lowcarbon transition,” CEO JeanLaurent Bonnafe said.

BNP said the targets were determined using International Energy Agency climate scenarios, as well as the Net Zero Banking Alliance NZBA framework.

The NZBA is a voluntary group of banks committed to aligning lending and investment portfolios with netzero emissions by 2050.

BNP said it would hit its oil and gasrelated targets by reducing its credit exposure to the sector by 12 from a 2020 baseline, and that it had already reduced its exposure in 2021 by 6 as it toughened its stance on lending to unconventional oil and gas.

Its pledge to end Amazon oil financing includes new oil and gas production as well as for companies developing related infrastructure.

However, BNP Paribas left open the door to some continued financing in the Amazon by adding that the exclusions would “not apply to companies with the most credible transition plans towards a netzero economy by 2050”.

Climate campaigners have said banks must stop backing fossil fuel extraction in the Amazon rainforest, the worlds largest, given its importance for biodiversity and its vital role in regulating the Earths climate by absorbing carbon dioxide.