The transition towards a low-carbon economy has been a "priority" at BNP Paribas for over a decade, the firm said.

Its achievements include announcing 2025 climate targets on carbon-intensive sectors, sector policies on fossil fuels, scaling up renewable energy and sustainable finance product development.

BNP Paribas has gone beyond its commitment to being a signatory of the Net Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA) to align its "whole business" with the transition, which encompasses creating solutions for clients and scaling up a data-driven approach to transition on top of NZBA's requirements. The alliance requires signatories to set decarbonisation targets for 2030 at the latest for priority sectors.

BNP Paribas ceased dealings with shale oil & gas and tar sands companies in 2017. In 2020, it began to phase out the thermal coal value chain by 2030 in the EU and OECD countries. By 2040 it will extend this policy to the rest of the world.

The group has committed to providing €30 billion ($30 billion) in financing for renewable energy projects by 2025.

The firm's reduction targets are "more ambitious than most of our peers" when it comes to decarbonising the power generation and oil & gas sectors, the firm claimed.

Laurence Pessez, global head of corporate social responsibility at BNP Paribas, said: "Since 2011, BNP Paribas has defined financing the energy transition as its number one environmental responsibility priority.

"We have been instrumental in developing methodologies and guidelines with our peers, in order to help the whole banking sector move in the same direction."