France: 39 major French companies take concrete action to combat climate change

In the lead-up to the Paris climate summit (COP21), 39 major French companies, employing a total of 4.4 million people worldwide and generating sales of 1,200 billion euros, have made a firm commitment to combat climate change. By signing this climate pledge, they want to contribute to making COP21 a success and to limiting the warming of the Earth to 2°C. They emphasize their driving role and leadership in the fight for a more sustainable world.

Active since many years, these companies are taking concrete steps to reduce their carbon footprint through:

• The use of active and passive energy efficiency solutions,
• The use of renewable energy, notably hydro, wind or solar energy,
• The systematic reduction of greenhouse gas emissions throughout the life cycle of their products,
• The development of new low-carbon materials and solutions,
• The reduction of food waste and packaging,
• The adoption of long-term investment strategies actively promoting the energy transition.

From 2016 to 2020, the 39 companies plan to invest at least 45 billion euros in industrial projects and R&D devoted to renewable energy, energy efficiency and other low carbon technologies. Over the same period, they also intend to provide bank and bond financing of at least 80 billion euros for projects contributing to the fight against climate change.

In addition, they foresee low carbon investments of 15 billion euros in new nuclear capacities and investments of 30 billion euros in natural gas as energy transition solution, planned over the next five years.