Corporate social and environmental responsibility

A CSR strategy based on four pillars

The Banque de France was one of the first French public institutions to define a CSR strategy, thanks initially to the strong overlap between CSR concerns and its mandate as a central bank (education of the public, sound financing of the economy, etc.). Its new CSR 2021-24 strategy has four main pillars:

1. Acting to preserve the environment
2. Acting to foster HR inclusion and collaborative initiatives
3. Acting as a corporate sponsor in areas related to our missions
4. Leading by example in our investments and procurement for a sustainable economy

Find out more

• CSR Charter
• Table of indicators - Annual report (in French)
• Banque de France Diversity and Inclusion Charter (in French)
• Banque de France Workplace Gender Equality Index (in French)
• Banque de France Responsible Procurement Charter (in French)
• Responsible Investment Charter (in French) 
• 2024 Sustainability Report – Sustainability actions of the Banque de France and the ACPR

Acting to preserve the environment

We have been working to reduce our environmental footprint since 2008 and are stepping up this commitment with two new goals:

• Actively commit to the objective of carbon neutrality
• Help to preserve nature

We also encourage staff to take part in our sustainability efforts, through initiatives such as in-house challenges and innovative intrapreneurship projects – including lab gardens, digital sobriety, re-use of shredded banknotes and a give-and-swap platform.

Our commitment to net zero

Building on the progress made since 2014, we have set ambitious reduction targets for our greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, covering 2024 to 2030. Our next key milestone is 2025, when we aim to have cut our GHG emissions by at least 25% compared with 2019. This includes emissions from energy use, business travel, commuting, waste, and fugitive emissions linked to leaks of refrigerant gases from air conditioning systems. 

Our net zero commitment is part of a broader climate strategy that is aligned with the goals of the Paris Agreement. We are notably defining a low carbon trajectory with a medium-term milestone of 2030 and are developing new tools to monitor and control our GHG emissions at a granular level.       

Energy and digital sobriety 

As part of the national energy sobriety plan, we have defined a clear roadmap with concrete targets for reducing our energy use. We are raising staff awareness of energy sobriety through training, workshops and other tools. On the digital side, staff have access to a personal digital profile where they can monitor their use of digital services, including messaging systems and printers. We are also working to reduce the environmental footprint of our IT systems and adopting sustainable practices in our application development.

By the end of 2022, more than 50% of Banque de France staff had taken the online training course on climate challenges. 800 had taken part in one of the Climate Fresk workshops organised by the 38 Banque de France staff trained to hold these sessions. Our target for 2024 is for over 75% of staff to have received training on climate challenges.

In 2021, all staff were provided with a personal digital profile. In 2022, two new indicators were added: the number of pages printed and the number of emails sent between 7 p.m. and 7.30 a.m. (outside normal working hours).

Acting to foster HR inclusion and collaborative initiatives

Our commitments:

• Promote diversity in our hiring 
• Guarantee equal treatment for all

Our commitment to equality and diversity

We have already surpassed our goal of having 35% of female staff in management roles (the figure was 38.2% at end-2024) and are continuing our work to close the gender pay gap. In governance, our target is for at least 40% of our Executive Committee members to be female by 2024, four years ahead of the legal deadline. We are also committed to keeping the share of disabled staff in our workforce at a minimum of 6%.

Our action to improve employability and create a balanced working environment

The skills needed to carry out our different activities are changing. As a result, we have signed a career management agreement with our social partners, along with a company-wide training and skills development plan that goes beyond legal requirements.

Regarding the working environment, we have rolled out agreements to foster remote working and create a better work-life balance. 

Acting as a corporate sponsor

The Banque de France has set itself two main objectives for 2025:

• Roll out our corporate sponsorship strategy
• Get staff involved in our corporate sponsorship

The Banque de France uses corporate sponsorship as a tool to serve the public interest. Its main sponsorship focuses are:
 

Cultural heritage

We strive to preserve and enrich the Bank’s historical heritage (buildings of historical interest, collections, etc.) and make it accessible to the general public (European Heritage Days, exhibitions, organisation of concerts). We also aim to promote our cultural heritage and its links with the Banque de France’s history, key figures in its past and France’s economic and monetary history.

Social and economic inclusion

Our corporate sponsorship in this field focuses on the social integration of vulnerable segments of the population and the socio-economic development of local territories, in partnership with local general interest associations, economic partners and actors from the social and solidarity economy.

The ecological transition

We support projects linked to preserving the environment and nature and guiding the energy transition.

The different forms of corporate sponsorship

Our corporate sponsorship can take different forms, at both national and regional level:

• Financial sponsorship: cash donations
• In-kind or industrial sponsorship: gifts of goods or of the use of goods, loan of works of art or items from the Bank’s collections, provision of services
• Skills sponsorship: provision of staff to work free of charge and during their normal working hours
   

Acting through our investments and procurement for a sustainable economy

We aim to lead by example in our investments and procurement, and involve all staff and directorates in our approach. Our objectives are to:

• Deploy SPASER (Scheme for the Promotion of Socially and Environmentally Responsible Purchasing)
• Implement our responsible investment strategy

A responsible investor

We are continuing to reinforce our responsible investment policy for our own funds and pension liabilities portfolios, which are the sole responsibility of the Banque de France. 

A responsible buyer

We are also continuing to apply our responsible procurement policy, with the aim of encouraging suppliers to commit to reducing their carbon footprint. 559 of our suppliers have signed our Responsible Procurement Charter. At the end of 2024, 95% of our procurement procedures incorporated environmental and societal considerations in the form of criteria or clauses.

The incorporation of extra-financial criteria into our project engagement and follow-up

We have adopted an innovative approach based on the incorporation of extra-financial criteria into our in-house investment choices (IT projects, real estate and industrial investments). Our goal is to ensure that staff fully understand the impacts of their choices.

The approach has numerous benefits:

• Ensures investment decisions are consistent with the Bank’s business strategy and CSR
• Formalises and emphasises the social, societal and environmental impacts of investments
• Provides tangible and quantifiable criteria that can be integrated into decisions
• Makes project managers actors in the Banque de France’s strategy

Extra-financial analysis has thus been incorporated into the governance of our operational investments, in addition to the financial analysis approach.

We also endeavour to make sure that all IT projects take into account digital sobriety and eco-design considerations.

Spacer

In January 2024, the Banque de France published SPASER (Scheme for the Promotion of Socially and Environmentally Responsible Procurement), reaffirming its commitment to using procurement to support the ecological transition, professional inclusion, business ethics and corporate resilience.

SPASER lays out a three-year roadmap that includes adding environmental performance criteria to our tenders and social clauses to our contracts, along with targets for the use of products from the circular economy.

The scheme also places strong emphasis on training procurement staff, equipping buyers and order placers with the knowledge and skills to navigate these new priorities, which require specific expertise. It is also a useful complement to the Banque de France’s Responsible Procurement Charter, which was published in 2019.

Together, these frameworks provide a much broader set of tools to promote our CSR goals, while also recognising and encouraging similar action from the companies we work with, especially in reducing their environmental impact. 
 

Factoring extra-financial criteria into our project engagement and follow-up

We have taken the innovative step of incorporating extra-financial criteria into our internal investments (IT projects, real estate and industrial investments). Our goal is to ensure staff fully understand the impacts of their choices.

The approach offers several benefits: 

• It ensures investment decisions are consistent with the Bank’s business strategy and CSR
• It formalises and emphasises the social, societal and environmental impacts of investments
• It provides tangible and quantifiable criteria that can be integrated into decisions
• It allows project managers to actively contribute to the Banque de France’s strategy

Extra-financial analysis is now a key part of our governance process for operational investments, in addition to the financial analysis approach. 

We are also working to ensure all IT projects take into account digital sobriety and eco-design considerations.