Can responsible investment deliver real change? 2/2
Sustainable buildings accounted for 49% of our energy and environmental transition investments in 2019. We have been renovating our property portfolio for the past fifteen years to achieve our target of reducing our CO2 emissions by 40% between 2006 and 2021. The target is now well within our reach since our emissions were down 37% at year-end 2019. Our new headquarters currently under construction in the Issy-les-Moulineaux eco-district, a project with five quality accreditations and featuring positive-energy buildings, will cut our environmental footprint even further from 2022.
Renewable energies, including wind, solar and geothermal, accounted for 26% of our energy and environmental transition investments in 2019. One year to the day after the Paris market’s declaration of its commitment to green and sustainable finance, we adopted in July 2020 our plan to withdraw completely from thermal coal in European Union and OECD countries by 2030 and worldwide by 2040.
Forests and woodland CNP Assurances is France’s largest private owner of woodland, with 56,537 hectares at year-end 2019. It has entrusted Société Forestière with managing them sustainably. As a result, it stored between 14 and 16 million tonnes of CO2 by year-end 2019 – a significant contribution to combating climate change.
Transport and sustainable mobility CNP Assurances supports various innovative projects, including green gas, biomethane, hydrogen and green electricity, led by key French players in sustainability mobility and the environmental transition. We also invest in major French rail network projects, with high-speed lines chief among them. Transport and sustainable mobility accounted for 14% of our energy and environmental transition investments in 2019.
Real economy We support businesses – from the CAC 40 to family-owned SMEs –, giving them the time they need to grow and develop, to adapt to technological change so they can sustain local jobs and to innovate for the benefit of future generations. We have now committed €300 million to the so-called NOVO funds reactivated by Caisse des Dépôts to shore up businesses’ capital base and to invest in the health and tourism sectors, which were badly hit by the pandemic.