OPSWF gathers international sovereign funds that contribute to a more sustainable economy.

On the eve of the 5^th anniversary of the Paris Agreement, Bpifrance becomes a new member of the One Planet Sovereign Wealth Funds (OPSWF). This decision is totally in accordance with the many actions Bpifrance has already carried out for a transition towards a greener economy.

 

One Planet Sovereign Wealth Funds: A gathering of international sovereign funds to protect our planet

The One Planet Sovereign Wealth Funds initiative was launched during the inaugural One Planet Summit in Paris in December 2017. Its goals follow those announced during the COP21 held in Paris in 2015: limiting global warming, investing in greener energies, and accelerating the transition towards a more sustainable and less polluting economy.

In this way, in 2018, the OPSWF has established a framework including 12 recommendations, around 3 main principles:

• Alignment: Build climate change considerations, which are aligned with the Sovereign Wealth Funds’ investment horizons, into decision-making.
• Ownership: Encourage companies to address material climate change issues in their governance, business strategy and planning, risk management, and public reporting to promote value creation.
• Integration: Integrate the consideration of climate change-related risks and opportunities into investment management to improve the resilience of long-term investment portfolios.

The initiative gathers financial institutions that align with this Framework, and has grown from 6 founding members (Abu Dhabi, Kuwait, New Zealand, Norway, Saudi Arabia, Qatar) to 33 with over $30 trillion in assets in the span of 2 years. The third One Planet Summit saw 6 new asset managers and 9 new sovereign wealth funds join the initiative – including Bpifrance.

 

As the climate bank, Bpifrance commits to the development of a more sustainable economy

Well known as the climate bank, Bpifrance has recently become a new member of the OPSWF initiative. The French public investment bank pledged its support for the OPSWF Framework, and will now align itself with its principles. It includes systematically integrating climate change into the decision-making process and supporting ambitious global climate actions.

“We are very proud to join the OPSWF initiative. As a French sovereign fund and the leading subscriber on the national private equity market, we want to contribute to accelerating the profound transformation of the ecosystem towards a more sustainable development model », said Nicolas Dufourcq, CEO of Bpifrance.

During the summit, the new members showed their commitment to the environment, and shared evidence of recent climate-related actions. Bpifrance takes part in the green transition through many actions, such as:

• Investing in venture capital to stimulate green innovation, and to build a sustainable and resilient technological ecosystem, essential for environmental and energy transitions.
• Developing key performance indicators to assess the carbon footprint, climate exposure, and climate change risks. These data will enable Bpifrance to better the economic and financial impact of climate-related risks in order to anticipate the constantly evolving regulations on this subject and to successfully monitor the transition of its portfolio towards a low-carbon economy.
• Promoting relevant climate service providers to private management companies through a “climate kit”. In order to accelerate the green transition of companies, this kit will also offer climate diagnostics, training and consulting modules, and share best practices with investment teams.

As a new member of the One Planet Sovereign Wealth Funds, Bpifrance further commits to environmental issues and to the green transition of French companies.