Methodology

Groups with subsidiaries in different sectors responded to questionnaires from each relevant federation regarding their entities as involved or not, at group level. For instance, a diversified banking group would report data related to banking only to the French Banking Federation (FBF) questionnaire, whereas its French insurance subsidiary would fall under data collection by the France Assureurs, its asset management arm would report to the AFG (French Asset Management Association), and its consumer lending operations to the ASF (French Association of Specialised Financial Companies).

Organising data and commitments into 4 distinct themes makes it possible to ensure coverage of all the actions being implemented as part of the transition to a sustainable financial system.

Individual commitments and sectoral data are always presented within the Observatory as belonging to one of the 4 key themes, namely: responsible management, coal phase-out, transition to a low-carbon economy, and supplying responsible products. This simple classification structures the sectoral data provided by each professional body and facilitates identification of key information. The individual commitments are equally divided among the 4 main themes but also have a more granular classification. The aim is to enable a better understand of the scope of each commitment and the area(s) potentially impacted.

With the support of PwC, this classification was developed on an ad-hoc basis and refined after the first individual commitments were received. It is a tool for visualisation which is subject to interpretation and does not constitute a commitment in itself. Marginal changes may be made according to the needs and comments received; updates will be made in the coming months following feedback from this first collection campaign.