BNP Paribas’ new hypocritical policy on nuclear financing

Friends of the Earth France is a member of BankTrack
BNP Paribas’ new hypocritical policy on nuclear financing

Paris, February 15th, 2011 – With 13.5 billion euro investments in nuclear between 2000 and 2009, BNP Paribas is the n°1 nuclear bank in the world . BNP Paribas just published its new policy on the financing of nuclear power plants , submitting its loans to nuclear power projects to specific conditions. While the bank also announced its participation in the financing of the Angra 3 dodgy deal in Brazil, Friends of the Earth France would like to remind BNP Paribas that nuclear cannot be considered in any way a solution to climate change. They also point out the numerous flaws of BNP Paribas' policy. The new policy on the financing of new nuclear power plants of BNP Paribas is presented as an integrated part of its "commitment to sustainable development". Its continuous support to the atomic industry comes in stark opposition with the most elementary principles of sustainable development and respect for the communities. This is clearly showed by the announcement around the same time of its participation to the financing of the nuclear power plant Angra 3 in Brazil, in a joint venture with Société Générale , Crédit Agricole and CIC and the Spanish banks BBVA and Santander . Many NGOs, including BankTrack and FoE France, have been warning these banks for months on the dangers of this project: such as, obsolete technology, neglected analysis on safety and accidents prevention, and the independency of the CNEN (Brasilian regulatory body) strongly put into question due to conflict of interests. Numerous problems also arise for the Jaitapur project in India, which is now being under study for financing by BNP Paribas and other French and European banks. BNP Paribas' policy includes many flaws. For example, none of its prerequisite requirements include the independence guarantee of the host country regulatory body, the inclusion of elements ensuring the effective implementation of waste management and decommissioning plans, or the effective control of the workers protection. As Juliette Renaud, the financial actors' responsibility campaigner of FOE France, stated: "This policy does not address neither the consent nor even the consultation of local communities, which will nonetheless be the first affected and which mobilisation can be severely and violently repressed, as happened recently in India on the Jaitapur project". Furthermore, this policy only covers a portion of the nuclear industry - power plants -, and does not apply to investment or asset management activities, while the issuing of shares and bonds includes more than 50% of the nuclear sector financing. Contrary to what BNP Paribas states, the electronuclear sector is becoming less and less profitable, so much so that it is beginning to lose ground. Today, it contributes only to 13% of electricity production worldwide, which is less than 2.5% of the final consumption demand in the world (less than 14% in France). However, as Marie-Christine Gamberini, the nuclear and energy campaign responsible for FoE France, reminds us: "As we approach the 25th anniversary of the Tchernobyl catastrophe, the most important brake to the development of the nuclear technology should be its intrinsic dangers, worsened by its vulnerability to extreme climate events. The privatisation of the energy sector and the growing use of subcontracting continue to increase the risks of catastrophes, even in France." These are some of the reasons why FoE France demands the immediate closure of the oldest and less reliable French reactors, the end of electronuclear in one or two five-year election periods, and the end of the selling of French nuclear power plants abroad (1). Juliette Renaud concludes: "To cope with current environmental and social issues, banks like BNP Paribas should actually adopt a global sectoral policy on the energy sector, including sub-sections for every domain (nuclear, coal, oil, agrofuels, etc.) instead of separating the sectors as they now do. This would guarantee a better coherence and would avoid leaving some key energy sectors uncovered." Private banks have indeed a major role to play in the reorientation of industrial activities, for the transition to a low carbon economy, with no radioactivity, and more respectful of the populations and their environment. Press contact: Caroline Prak, FoE France, +33 1 48 51 18 96 / +33 6 86 41 53 43

Notes: (1) For more details, please download FoE France's position on electronuclear (only in French):
http://www.amisdelaterre.org/IMG/pdf/AT_position_electronucleaire_Mai08.pdf
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