For the first time, a study has set out to "mark" the climate and energy policies of the fifteen largest European banks. The credit goes to ShareAction, a British organisation that has been working for years towards a greener and more sustainable finance. The resulting ranking speaks for itself: French banks lead the pack, but there are still some laggards.

Where European banks stand

To arrive at the ranking, the researchers prepared a questionnaire that thoroughly addresses the most important issues in responsible finance, filled in some sections themselves on the basis of publicly available information, and submitted the remaining sections to the banks themselves, before assigning a score to their responses.

Let us start with the positive findings: all European banks, once approached, chose to respond to ShareAction's survey. And all of them have taken into account the financial risks linked to climate change, have adopted specific measures and processes, and have consequently launched green financial products. All of this demonstrates a level of awareness that, until just a few years ago, could not at all be taken for granted.

Group	Position	Bank	Country	Score (out of 162)
Leader	1	Bnp Paribas	France	107
Challengers	2	Ubs	Switzerland	94
Challengers	3	Hsbc Holdings	United Kingdom	92.5
Challengers	4	Crédit Agricole	France	92
Challengers	5	Société générale	France	89
Challengers	6	Ing	Netherlands	82.5
Pupils	7	Deutsche Bank	Germany	61.5
Pupils	8	Barclays	United Kingdom	58
Pupils	9	Santander	Spain	56.5
Pupils	10	Credit Suisse Group	Switzerland	55.5
Pupils	11	Rbs	United Kingdom	54
Pupils	12	Bbva	Spain	52.5
Pupils	13	Standard Chartered	United Kingdom	52.5
Laggards	14	UniCredit	Italy	43
Laggards	15	Lloyds Banking Group	United Kingdom	37

Source: ShareAction

France leads the pack

Firmly topping the ranking is Bnp Paribas, which in recent months has decided to stop financing shale gas and oil, tar sands, pipelines, Arctic drilling and — its most recent announcement — the tobacco industry. Hot on its heels are Ubs, Hsbc, Crédit Agricole, Societe Generale and Ing. As a general rule, the three French banks surveyed score higher than their counterparts. According to ShareAction, part of the credit goes to the French energy transition law, whose Article 173 requires anyone managing investments to produce a formal report on their environmental footprint. Bringing up the rear are British group Lloyds and Italy's Unicredit.

European banks grappling with reporting

An important milestone was reached in the summer of 2017, when the Task Force on Climate Related Financial Disclosures (Tcfd), chaired by Michael Bloomberg and bringing together 32 figures from the worlds of economics and finance, published its final report setting out the guidelines for disclosing climate-related financial risks. Thirteen of the fifteen large European banks confirmed their intention to implement these recommendations. When one looks at the detail, however, major differences emerge in how these guidelines are being interpreted; and only Crédit Agricole states clearly that it has already put them into practice. ShareAction therefore calls on institutional shareholders to remain vigilant, making their voices heard at general meetings if necessary, to demand greater clarity and concrete action.

The flight from fossil fuels is still only half complete

Fourteen out of fifteen European banks have adopted policies to limit or eliminate their exposure to activities with a heavy negative impact on the climate, foremost among them coal extraction. But here too, when one looks at the specifics, differences and delays emerge. The same applies to policies on oil and natural gas, adopted by twelve banks. While the most forward-looking and advanced is that of Bnp Paribas, Santander, for example, has yet to formally define one (though it plans to do so shortly). In this case too, ShareAction stresses, it is important never to forget that banks will also have to play their part, otherwise it will be impossible to achieve the targets set by the Paris Agreement.