AfE 2024
When Hacina Py became Societe Generale’s chief sustainability officer in October 2021, one of the first changes she made was to bring her team into the chief executive’s office “so that we could really push for the integration of our transition strategy,” she says.
Next came ambitious decarbonization targets, both internal and external, and the supporting infrastructure necessary to make those more ambitious goals a practical reality.
Ultimately, decarbonization targets are the litmus test of an organization’s dedication to transitioning to a low-carbon economy, and Py accelerated the French bank’s commitment. By 2030, SocGen will cut its euro-denominated financing of upstream oil and gas by 80% versus 2019, with an intermediate step of 50% by 2025. In greenhouse-gas terms, that equates to a 36% reduction by 2030.
In CO2 terms, that equates to a 70% reduction by 2030 – almost double the 36% that the International Energy Agency’s net-zero plan says will be required.