The principles for taking into account the environmental and social aspects of financing and investing activities in the various phases of transaction analysis and management were defined in 2008. They led in 2009 to a bank-wide assessment of the environmental and social sensitivity associated with transactions.

 

An Ethics Committee (CERES CommitteeThe CERES Committee is headed by Crédit Agricole CIB's Compliance Head and gathers 5 voting members (or their representative):
- the president,
- one of the Natural resources, infrastructure and power business line's co-head,
- the Head of Risk and Permanent Control,
- the Head of the Sustainable Development mission in Crédit Agricole S.A., assisted by Crédit Agricole CIB's Head of Sustainable Development,
- the Head of Crédit Agricole S.A.'s Industrial and Sector Research unit.
The legal department and the communications direction are also represented in this committee.), chaired by the Head of Compliance, was set up for transactions involving environmental or social risks and has assumed the duties and responsibilities of the Equator Principles Committee for project finance. It reviews projects to determine whether their environmental and social impact requires close monitoring and issues recommendations prior to Credit Committee meetings.

 

Crédit Agricole CIB ‘s policy in the area of financing military and defence equipment restricts the financing of controversial equipment and imposes numerous conditions concerning the type of transaction, the identity of the stakeholders and approval by official organisations. In 2009, it took another step forward by deciding gradually to phase out credit facilities for companies that make or sell anti-personnel mines or cluster bombs.

Financing of renewable energy forms an integral part of the strategy in project finance. The Bank has been involved in this field for about a decade. It financed its first wind farms in 1997, and financed a solar energy project in Spain in 2008. Renewable energies now account for 25% of the power generation projects.

 

In 2009, a Sustainable Business Unit was created so as better to meet customers’ new expectations in the area of sustainable development and to support their efforts to reduce their carbon footprint. This unit is in charge of coordinating competencies, deploying the Bank’s existing offerings and developing new products.