Decarbonization of activities

In response to climate imperatives and the significant financing needs of the environmental transition, Societe Generale has adopted a proactive approach to decarbonizing its financing portfolios.

Societe Generale continues to work on aligning its financing portfolios with trajectories consistent with the Paris Agreement. The Group’s approach is based on close monitoring of its financing portfolios, aimed at gradually reducing its exposure to fossil fuels while supporting the decarbonization of the most carbon intensive sectors, leading to the definition of decarbonization targets across 10 key sectors.

Tangible progress

Societe Generale aims to fully exit the thermal coal sector by 2030 in EU and OECD countries, and globally by 2040. At end 2025, thermal coal accounted for less than 0.1% of Societe Generale’s total outstanding loans.

In September 2023, Societe Generale announced a target to reduce exposures related to oil and gas upstream by 80% by 2030 compared with 2019, with an interim target of -50% by end-2025, achieved ahead of schedule in 2024. These targets are complemented by a 70% absolute emissions reduction target across the entire oil and gas value chain by 2030 compared with 2019.

Since 1 January 2024, Societe Generale has stopped providing financial products and services and advisory services to greenfield oil and gas production projects and no longer finances private pure players who generate the majority of their income from upstream oil and gas activities. 

Sectors covered by 2030 targets

The Group has also set targets (carbon intensity reduction or alignment scores) for the automotive, steel, cement, commercial real estate, shipping, aluminum and aviation sectors.

These 10 sectors account for approximately 70% of financed emissions (Scopes 1 and 2) of corporate clients as of end September 2025, when considering their full value chains.

Societe Generale does not include carbon credits in the calculation of its financed emissions and does not account for carbon credits purchased by its clients to meet its emissions reduction targets.
In addition, the Group has defined further objectives, including:

In addition, the Group has defined further objectives, including:

• reducing emissions from Ayvens, in particular through fleet electrification;
• for insurance activities, reducing the carbon footprint of investment portfolios and increasing climate focused assets by 2030.