The French central bank is looking towards a greener future with the announcement that it will divest from coal and limit gas and oil investments in its portfolio by 2024.
The Bank of France, which manages 22 billion euros, will no longer invest in companies that generate more than 2 percent of their revenues from coal by the end of 2021 and will drop this threshold to zero percent by 2024. Its current threshold for coal investments is 10 percent. It will also drop companies with more than 10 percent of revenue coming from oil or 50 percent from gas.
The bank had previously already committed to dropping companies that generate more than 10 percent of revenue from shale oil or gas, tar sands, or exploration in the Arctic or deep water.
Other banking entities have made similar green pledges this year. New York announced last month that it will divest its $226 billion pension fund from fossil fuels. The new policy will force many companies to adjust their fossil fuel relations and could prompt the bank to drop major energy companies like Total.
