Paris, 22 May 2015
As a Gold Sponsor of the Climate Finance Day organised by Paris Europlace under the impetus of the Caisse des Dépôts Group and the European Investment Bank, CNP Assurances has made contributing to the environmental and energy transition a strategic priority. It is now making new commitments to fight against climate change.
On Climate Finance Day, 22 May, CNP Assurances will announce that it has signed the Montreal Carbon Pledge, under which investors commit to measure and publicly disclose the carbon footprint of their equity investment portfolio. In signing the pledge, CNP Assurances will be one of the first insurers to promise that it will calculate and publish carbon footprint data for its entire investment portfolio by the end of 2015.
As one of Climate Finance Day's major partners, CNP Assurances is sponsoring a round table entitled "How can institutional investors bring their portfolios into line with 2°C?". Because climate issues are primarily international in nature, CNP Assurances has chosen to be represented at the round table by Miriam Belchior, president of Caixa Econômica Federal, Brazil's second-largest public bank, which holds a 48.25% interest in CNP Assurances' Brazilian subsidiary, Caixa Seguradora. Miriam Belchior will speak, in particular, about initiatives taken by the Brazilian bank to help mitigate global warming, for example by reducing its carbon footprint and fighting against deforestation.
Like all members of the Caisse des Dépôts Group, CNP Assurances has made contributing to the environmental and energy transition a strategic priority. In late 2014, the Group devoted €560 million to renewable energies, clean tech and other green investments, of which €251 million in green bonds. It is considering doubling its environmental and energy transition-related investments to more than €1 billion by end-2017.
This focus fits in with the responsible investment approach formally adopted in 2006, when CNP Assurance became one of the first insurers to apply environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria, which now cover 80% of its assets. The same approach is being rolled out in the subsidiaries, particularly in Brazil.
This commitment stems from CNP Assurances' 2003 decision to join the United Nations Global Compact, which encourages signatories to embrace ten principles on human rights, labour rights, the environment and anti-corruption practices. It was strengthened in 2011 with CNP Assurances' pledge to uphold the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI).
For more information, read the 2014 CSR report or visit the "Our Commitments" section