Crédit Agricole has spent the past few years doing something many of its peers are still grappling with: turning ESG from a strategic pillar into a working reality across the bank. That shift, visible in its financing, governance and client work, underpins its selection as the world’s best bank for ESG.
The group’s new ACT 2028 strategic plan has strengthened that direction, further embedding ESG across all business lines and backing it with a dedicated sustainability and impact division and a network of more than 500 specialists.
While some global peers have pulled back from climate commitments or recalibrated their ESG ambitions, Crédit Agricole has reinforced its position, continuing to embed net-zero alignment into client relationships and financing decisions.
As Quentin Guerineau, chief sustainability and impact officer, puts it: “We reaffirmed our net-zero pathway in our 2028 strategy, despite the challenging context. That’s a strong commitment from us.”
The scope of that strategy is also broadening. “One of the new aspects of the 2028 strategy is to reaffirm our goals on climate but also go beyond that on new topics that are very important for the group, such as climate adaptation and nature.” says Guerineau. “We want to take a leading role in climate adaptation. We are working with all the group subsidiaries and local entities to identify the coming challenges regarding adaptation, both for corporate and individual clients, and to build new banking and insurance products for them.”
That shift is already visible in practical initiatives. The group has launched pilot projects assessing climate risk in alpine tourism, where changing weather patterns threaten seasonal business models, and is working on water stress and coastal retreat scenarios in France. It is also integrating adaptation into retail offerings, including financing for renovations designed to improve resilience to heatwaves in southern Europe.
Crédit Agricole has also sought to extend its sustainability agenda into emerging areas of environmental finance, particularly the blue economy. In 2025, the group strengthened its position on ocean preservation by signing a pledge not to finance deep-sea mining projects and by participating in major international forums focused on ocean finance and sustainable marine development.
One of the new aspects of the 2028 strategy is to reaffirm our goals on climate but also go beyond that on new topics that are very important for the group, such as climate adaptation and nature
Quentin Guerineau
Across the group, this commitment is reflected in financing and investment policies covering maritime transport and biodiversity, stewardship activities targeting ocean-related risks such as plastics and deep-sea mining, and support for blue finance solutions.
Leading from the front
The bank’s ESG credentials are anchored in its sustainable finance track record. By year-end 2025, CACIB ranked first globally as a green and sustainability loan agent by value and volume, with $99 billion arranged across 87 deals, and held leading positions across multiple green lending categories. It is also a leading bookrunner in green, social, sustainability and sustainability-linked issuance, with more than 7% market share since 2021, ranking number one or two every year since then, according to Bloomberg league tables.
The bank has also been central to the development of the European green bond market. “We were very proud that 2025 saw the emergence of the EU Green Bond (EUGB) Standard. We were one of the banks drafting this standard for the European Commission six years ago. We believe in this product and so we are happy to see it taking off,” says Tanguy Claquin, head of sustainability at Crédit Agricole CIB. In the first wave of EUGB issuance, Crédit Agricole arranged nine of the first 10 bonds structured in this format.
Crédit Agricole also continued to drive innovation across sustainable finance frameworks in 2025. It advised on a series of landmark mandates, including: the first sustainability-linked framework to incorporate a regenerative agriculture KPI for Barilla; biodiversity-linked financing frameworks for Chile; the inaugural sustainable debt framework for the Inter-American Development Bank that underpinned its Social Amazonia Bond; and the update of Italy’s sovereign green bond framework with enhanced EU Taxonomy disclosure.
Alongside this market leadership, the bank has continued to focus on more complex and transition-oriented financing. Examples include a resilience bond for Tokyo Metropolitan Government, designed to support infrastructure against flooding and storm surges, and taxonomy-aligned lending structures in sectors such as data centres, where classification remains technically challenging.
It has also pushed into new areas of product development, including green repo transactions and financing structures linked to nuclear energy projects, reflecting a broader approach to transition finance.
Beyond volumes, Crédit Agricole has delivered measurable balance sheet transition. Financing to renewable and low-carbon energy reached €27.9 billion by mid-2025, more than doubling since 2020, while exposure to fossil fuel extraction has fallen by 56%. This places it ahead of its own interim targets and supports its wider ambition to reach a 90/10 green-to-brown financing ratio.
Crédit Agricole’s ESG proposition is reinforced by its asset manager Amundi, which provides scale in responsible investment. With €1,048 billion in responsible assets under management at end-2025, it remains one of the largest players globally.
Stewardship is a core part of that model. As Elodie Laugel, chief responsible investment officer, says: “Responsible Investment is central to our strategy. Over the past three years, Amundi has strengthened its position as a leader in responsible investment, including on Net Zero, with over €330 billion in net zero assets under management.”
“In addition, stewardship is at the heart of how we serve our clients’ long-term interests. It reflects our strong belief that ambitious, structured, and pragmatic active dialogue with our investee companies is an effective lever to accompany the expected transition. In 2025, we engaged nearly 3,000 companies worldwide on key sustainability issues, including more than 1,700 on climate-related topics,” Laugel says.
“Looking ahead, as part of our climate strategy for 2028, we will continue to complete our savings offering to answer sustainable development and transition challenges, with blended finance, adaptation and natural capital preservation as growing areas of focus,” Laugel adds.
Crédit Agricole’s claim to this award rests not just on scale but on positioning. It has combined market leadership with a willingness to stay the course on climate when others hesitate, and to push into less-developed areas such as adaptation and nature. That mix – consistency, innovation and follow-through – is what sets it apart in sustainable banking.
