2025 Sustainability Report – Report on the Banque de France and ACPR’s Sustainable Action

“Ten years on from the Paris Climate Agreement, the time has come to take stock in an international and geopolitical context that has become more challenging for the transition towards carbon neutrality. Real progress has been made, with the use of renewable energy rising sharply and numerous central banks and supervisors taking action as part of their mandates. However, we are still far from meeting the emissions reduction targets set out in the Paris Agreement. It is therefore essential that we strengthen our commitment and move faster towards securing an effective and sustainable climate transition.

The Banque de France is contributing to this goal both as a company and in the conduct of its missions.

In this context, the Banque de France and the Autorité de contrôle prudentiel et de résolution (ACPR – Prudential Supervision and Resolution Authority) reaffirm their commitment to further integrating climate and nature-related risks into their activities and missions.”

Emmanuel Moulin
Governor of the Banque de France

In 2025, the Banque de France exceeded its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction target – set at -25% compared with 2019 – achieving a 35% cut in emissions linked to energy, commuting, business travel, waste and direct fugitive emissions.

It has since committed to going even further, setting new carbon reduction targets for 2028 relative to 2019. These targets cover industrial activities, tertiary activities (excluding purchases) and tertiary purchases.

For its industrial activities, the Banque de France aims to reduce the carbon intensity of banknotes by 25% compared with 2019. This will be achieved in part by relocating to a new, state-of-the-art and energy-efficient printing facility, installing a new boiler at the paper mill, and increasing the use of organic cotton and alternative fibres with a lower carbon footprint than conventional cotton. From 2026 onwards, all euro banknotes produced by the Banque de France will be made entirely from organic or Fairtrade cotton (the sustainable cotton currently used is certified GOTS or Organic Content Standard).

For its tertiary activities (excluding purchases), the Banque de France is targeting a 40% reduction in GHG emissions by 2028 compared with 2019.

The Banque de France has trained 87.5% of procurement staff to take better account of climate and nature in their purchasing decisions, exceeding its minimum target of 75%. For its tertiary purchases, it is now focusing on identifying and prioritising suppliers that are reducing their carbon footprint, in addition to the actions cited previously for industrial raw materials purchases.

The Banque de France was the first central bank to publish its biodiversity footprint in its 2024 Sustainability Report, assessing both its impact and dependencies on nature. It is currently developing a policy on sustainable water use.

The relevant figures:

This year, the Banque de France has expanded its Sustainability Report by introducing additional nature-related performance indicators.

It now publishes the share of its portfolios exposed to sectors considered to have material nature-related dependencies and impacts, as well as indicators measuring the portfolios’ impact on water quality.

In the 2025 United Nations-backed Principles for Responsible Investment (UNPRI) reporting exercise, the Banque de France achieved above-median scores in all its reporting modules and improved its performance compared with last year.

Its holdings of green, social and sustainability bonds rose by EUR 13.4 billion in 2025, expanding the portfolio by 85%, while investments in funds financing the energy transition or having an environmental or social impact rose by EUR 108 million (+12%).

The Banque de France also formalised its shareholder engagement policy in 2025 and launched a new engagement campaign (conducted by BDF Gestion) focused on nature preservation. The campaign targets firms in which it invests through the biodiversity fund set up jointly with Caisse des Dépôts. CDC Biodiversité’s qualitative analyses and expertise were used to select the firms to engage with and guide constructive dialogue with them.

The relevant figures: 

The risks associated with climate change and nature degradation affect all the Banque de France’s core missions: monetary strategy, financial stability and services to the economy and society.

Monetary strategy 

In 2025, the Eurosystem incorporated a climate factor into its collateral framework to take better account of climate risks in monetary policy implementation and make its operational framework more resilient to climate-related transition shocks.

The Banque de France continued to reduce the carbon footprint of the cash cycle and of cashless payment instruments (cards, credit transfers, direct debits) by increasing the energy efficiency of its IT infrastructure, modernising its equipment and optimising the banknote lifecycle.

Financial stability 

In 2025, in the insurance sector, the ACPR assessed whether insurers have adequately integrated sustainability risks into their governance and management frameworks, and examined potential increases in claims linked to climate change.

In the banking sector, the ACPR assessed institutions’ preparedness for prudential transition plans. It acknowledged the progress made in managing climate and environmental risks, but stressed the need to improve governance, as well as data quality and monitoring systems. The Banque de France actively contributes to the work of the Central Banks and Supervisors’ Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS).

In 2025, the NGFS published its first short-term climate scenarios and further developed its analyses of climate transition plans, which are key tools for assessing and managing financial institutions’ climate risks.

Services to the economy and society 

Since 2025, in line with the Eurosystem’s climate programme, the Banque de France has integrated climate risks into its In-house Credit Assessment System (ICAS), by taking account of transition and physical risks. The Banque de France is also developing a climate indicator for companies to support their transition and climate adaptation strategies. To this end, it has introduced ODACC – a climate change adaptation diagnostic tool which assesses exposure to climate hazards under various warming scenarios. Developed jointlywith Météo France, ODACC is referred to in France’s National Climate Change Adaptation Plan (PNACC).

The Banque de France and the ACPR: climate and nature are at the core of our activities and missions