BNP Paribas committed to support Sustainable Development Goals
In line with the 17 United Nations SDGs, BNP Paribas’ CSR strategy aims to contribute to a more sustainable world.
Aid to disaster-stricken populations:
The Rescue & Recover Fund collects donations in order to enable a quick and efficient reaction to humanitarian disasters. When employees in the countries where BNP Paribas operates, members of the French pensioners’ association for retired BNP Paribas employees, and French retail banking clients make a donation, BNP Paribas adds a matching contribution before donating the funds to its partner organisations. Since it was established, the fund has donated almost €4 million.
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Fighting Malnutrition:
In 2017, the Rescue & Recover Fund, together with its NGO partners, provided assistance to more than 280,000 people who were victims of malnutrition in Cameroon, Mali and Niger. Its donation enabled for example the creation of 15 community health centres, medical and nutritional care to young children, and the rehabilitation of facilities providing access to water.
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Our Clients Are Committed:
BNP Paribas assisted a client who donated a barge retrofitted into a floating hospital, to help an Indonesian NGO: doctorSHARE, providing free medical and humanitarian aid to the poorest regions in Indonesia. The hospital brings quality healthcare services to those who travelled days to reach a pharmacy or nurse. It is the biggest NGO floating hospital serving at Palu after the earthquake and tsunami in 2018.
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Support for Educational Programmes:
Odyssée Jeunes is an educational programme that provides support for the most disadvantaged young people. This initiative gathers together the BNP Paribas Foundation, the Seine-Saint-Denis local authority and the French Ministry of National Education. In total, over 40,000 young people have benefited from this initiative since 2009, thanks to a yearly budget of €1 million.
In Belgium, universal access to Flemish or French language education is not yet a reality and young people of foreign origin or from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds often suffer from failure at school. The BNP Paribas Fortis Foundation supports tutoring programmes of 6 universities, helping 150 students every year to benefit from remedial classes provided by student volunteers.
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Jean-Laurent Bonnafé, Director and Chief Executive Officer of BNP Paribas, has reinforced its engagement to the UN’s HeForShe campaign, by becoming partner of the «HeForShe Arts Week» and by supporting the Women’s Forum Global Meeting.
Partnership with UN Women :On 8 March 2019, UN Women and BNP Paribas signed a partnership to develop climate-resilient agriculture and women’s entrepreneurship in Northern Senegal, called PAFADD (Projet d’Appui aux Femmes dans l’Agriculture et le Développement Durable, or "project to support women in agriculture and sustainable development").
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To guarantee access to water and sanitation and to ensure sustainable management of water resources, BNP Paribas has developed financing and investment products. In addition, in the event of a natural disaster, the Rescue & Recover Fund can act swiftly to restore access to water.
A BNP Paribas client has been actively involved in and committed to the association "1001fontaines" which has been a pioneer in social business, using low cost technology and a financially sustainable model to provide safe water at an affordable price to the most underprivileged populations.
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In pledging to double its financing of renewable energies to €15 billion by 2020, BNP Paribas is asserting itself as a player that is committed to fighting climate change.
On 10 November 2017, BNP Paribas in Switzerland signed a partnership agreement with the Solar Impulse Foundation—a joint commitment that is aimed at promoting concrete solutions for improvements to the quality of life, sustainable both in economic and ecological terms.
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From start-ups to SMEs to international conglomerates, BNP Paribas supports businesses of all types. By financing and investing ethically, the Bank plays a role in the economic development of society as a whole and supports jobs creation.
Investments in Social Busineses through the Novess Fund:
The Group has invested €20 million in NovESS, a fund that finances companies in the social and inclusive economy and supports social innovation projects, particularly in the inclusion and medical-social domains.
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Mechanisms to support start-ups:
-In France, 16 specialized agencies (WAI – We Are Innovation) support 2,000 start-up clients since 2012. €50 million have been invested in seed and venture capital to support them.
-In Belgium, support to entrepreneurs was improved through the opening of the Co. Station, an accelerator which supports start-ups and companies in their growth phase.
-In Luxembourg, the Lux Future Lab has been developed, now counting 36 start-ups. In total, more than 200 jobs have been created since 2012 for the start-ups housed.
-In Turkey, TEB Start-up house supports entrepreneurs (training, consulting…) in their innovative projects.
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« Seine-Saint-Denis Equality » Charter :
BNP Paribas has signed a partnership with the Department of Seine-Saint-Denis on 16 April 2019 to accelerate the economic and social development of the department around six fundamental pillars:
- Education and youth;
- employment and qualifications;
- entrepreneurship
- the attractiveness of the department
- the social and solidarity economy, social innovation and the ecological transition
- Solidarity and community cohesion>> Learn more
The architectural and cultural heritage of a city is essential for urban quality of life and BNP Paribas contributes to protecting this heritage where it operates. Following the disastrous fire that struck Notre Dame Cathedral this year, BNP Paribas and its employees have committed to enable its reconstruction. BNP Paribas has pledged €20 million and matches employee contributions and donations from its French retail banking clients. In addition, BNP Paribas will be putting in place a specific mechanism, together with the BNP Paribas Foundation, under the aegis of the Fondation de France, that will enable employees and French retail banking clients to contribute in a personal capacity to the rebuilding effort.
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Consuming less paper and wasting less:
The Group has committed to reduce paper consumption per employee by 30% from 2012 to 2020 and to increasing the share of responsibly sourced paper to 80%. BNP Paribas company restaurants in France recycle their waste in the form of compost or methane.
Financing recycling: Since 2014, the Group participated to the financing of green bond issues amounting to more than €1.8 billion in the sector of waste management and recycling sector.
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BNP Paribas became "Carbon neutral":
For that, 3 complementary actions are being undertaken:
• Reducing CO2 emissions related to its functioning;
• Increasing the share of low carbon electricity;
• Offseting CO2 emissions that cannot be avoided.
In 2017, all of its 2016 emissions were offset as part of the Wild Life Works’ Kasigau project. A long-term partnership with the GoodPlanet Foundation was also signed in 2017 to set up 13,000 bio-digesters in India.>> Learn more
BNP Paribas is committed to preserve the wealth of the oceans. Through the BNP Paribas Foundation and its Climate Initiative program, we are supporting the REEF Services project with the objectives of measuring and predicting the consequences of global warming on the coral reefs and the services they provide (fishing, tourism, coastal protection). More than 500 million people rely on coral reefs for their subsistence.
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Agriculture will need to overcome the major challenges of rising global demand for food and climate change. BNP Paribas and UNEP launched Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF) in India: a new type of natural farming to achieve more virtuous production methods using less water, no pesticides or chemical fertilizers and favoring reforestation.
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Partnership with the Whitaker Peace & Development Initiative:
BNP Paribas and the Whitaker Peace & Development Initiative (WPDI) have signed on December 2018, a five-year partnership within the framework of a program in South Africa aimed at helping young men and women from Cape Town districts to fill the roles of peacemakers and entrepreneurs within their community.
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In order to support local scientific communities and their research on climate change, the BNP Paribas Foundation partnered with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to support and co-fund the One Planet Fellowship.
This program leverages French, African and European expertise to support research on climate adaptation in Africa, one of the continents most vulnerable to climate change. Managed by African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD) and Agropolis Foundation, the One Planet Fellowship takes a gender-based approach to climate change adaptation and agriculture, in order to reflect the crucial role played by women in this area.
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