FR / Fossil finance: "Encouraging signals, with the exception of Société Générale" (L. Pinson, Reclaim)

"These are very encouraging signals from French banks. With the big exception of Société Générale which, unlike BNP Paribas, BPCE and Crédit Agricole, is exploding its financing of fossil fuels, with extremely impressive percentage increases", Lucie Pinson, Managing Director of Reclaim Finance, told News Tank on 10/06/2026.

Together with a consortium of eight NGOs, Reclaim Finance has published the 2026 edition of its "Banking on climate chaos" report, which details banks' financing of fossil fuels.

French banks financed the expansion of fossil fuels to the tune of $16bn (around €13.8bn) in 2025, compared with $18bn (around €15.6bn) in 2024, according to Reclaim Finance.

Société Générale's oil and gas production financing will increase by 29% in 2025, the report notes, while BNP Paribas' financing will fall (-80%), as will Crédit Agricole's (-23%) and Groupe BPCE's (-32%).

Société Générale has also increased its financing for oil and gas transport infrastructure by 95% in 2025 over one year.

The major banks have allocated a total of $906 bn to fossil fuels worldwide in 2025, a figure…