A year ago, BNP Paribas (Suisse) SA and Raleigh International joined in a 3 years partnership with the aim of contributing to Nepal’s rebuilding and sustainable development.

A partnership around the WASH programme

The heart of the partnership, that unites the Swiss branch of the BNP Paribas Group with the non-profit organisation Raleigh International, relies on implementing the WASH (Water, Sanitation And Hygiene) programme in Nepal. This programme aims to improve:

  • water networks,
  • sanitation facilities,
  • health and hygiene practices.

The Gorkha region: disaster-affected zone

The Gorkha region is situated at the epicentre of the first earthquake that hit the country in April 2015. The natural disaster left these communities devoid of basic services, with a large number of buildings and facilities destroyed, and still today only partially rebuilt. A circle of poverty and illness persists in the worst-affected areas, and the need for infrastructure development and health and hygiene practices is critical.

The joint mobilisation of teams made up of Raleigh and BNP Paribas in Switzerland employees!

In 2016 and within this context, the collaboration between BNP Paribas (Suisse) SA and Raleigh had already brought about real solutions to the local populations of Gorkha, with help from volunteers from around the world. In addition, Bank employees are given the opportunity to join these teams of volunteers, for on-site missions of 2 to 8 weeks. Two managers from the Bank are actually there right now, from 12th June to 2nd August, to supervise young Raleigh volunteers in implementing WASH projects.

One year, and already a significant impact!

170403_Raleigh Infography

Between 2017 and 2019, the BNP Paribas Foundation will put an additional €6 million into its Climate Initiative programme to support eight international research projects.

These projects focus on a diverse range of topics including the collection of new data on past climates in Antarctica and tropical areas, the expansion of the dry subtropics in South America, an assessment of the impact of climate change on the coral reefs and the carbon sequestration potential of agricultural soils in Africa.

Launched in 2010, Climate Initiative aims to develop our understanding of climate change and its effects on our environment. It has already enabled ten international research teams to study the climate and raise the awareness of more than 200,000 people about climate change.

 

8 projects, 178 researchers, professors and engineers, 73 universities and research organisations throughout the world

These global, interdisciplinary projects focus on a broad range of issues concerning the functioning of the climate system, its evolution and the effects it will have on our environment. They cover a total budget of €14.4 million, of which €6 million is provided by the BNP Paribas Foundation.

  • Collecting unprecedented data to model the evolution of East Antarctica, a region still largely unexplored, and its possible consequences on ocean level rise. Project led by Barbara Stenni (Univerista CA’ FOSCARI VENEZIA), Joël Savarino (LGGE (CNRS/ Université Grenoble Alpes)), Detlev Helmig (University of Colorado), Tas van Ommen (Australian Antarctic Division).
  • Measuring the impact of global warming on seabirds and marine mammal that inhabit the Arctic and Antarctic regions or rely on them for their reproduction. Project led by Christophe Barbraud and Yan Ropert-Coudert (CEBC (CNRS/Université la Rochelle)).
  • More closely accounting for IPCC projections and their impact on economic, political and socio-cultural aspects of governance models in the countries most vulnerable to climate change. Project led by Joost Vervoort (Utrecht University)
  • Collecting unprecedented data on tropical climates over the past 800,000 years to better define regional climate changes and understand how the tropical forest has reacted to them. Project led by Marie-Pierre Ledru (ISEM (UM/CNRS/IRD/EPHE)).
  • Measuring and predicting the consequences of global warming on the coral reefs and the services they provide (fishing, tourism, coastal protection). Project led by Valeriano Parravicini (Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes).
  • Modelling extreme climate change events in Africa and their effects to help populations reduce their exposure to these phenomena. Project led by Mark New (University of Cape Town) and Friederike Otto (University of Oxford).
  • Better understanding the interaction between climate warming and the Hadley cell (a large-scale atmospheric movement that redistributes heat from the equator to the tropics), which is expanding the subtropical dry zones in the Southern hemisphere.   Project led by Valérie Daux (LSCE (CNRS/CEA/Université de Versailles Saint Quentin)).
  • Better understanding the mechanisms of soil carbon sequestration in tropical agricultural systems and further improving practices in family-based agriculture. Project led by Lydie Lardy (UMR Eco&Sols – Montpellier SupAgro/CIRAD/INRA/IRD).

 

These projects were selected by a scientific committee comprised of renowned experts:

  • Franck Courchamp, CNRS Research Director at the Laboratory of Ecology, Systematics and Evolution (CNRS/Université Paris-Sud), laureate of the Climate Initiative programme in 2014.
  • Philippe Gillet, Vice Chairman of Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne. He leads the scientific committee and is a member of BNP Paribas Foundation’s executive committee.
  • Joanna Haigh, Professor of Atmospheric Physics at Imperial College London, Co-Director of the Grantham Institute for Climate Change and Environment.
  • Corinne Le Quéré, Professor of Climate Change Science and Policy at the University of East Anglia, Director of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research.
  • Thomas Stocker, Professor and Head of the Climate and Environmental Physics department at the University of Bern, where he directs the Department of Climate and Environmental Physics.
  • Riccardo Valentini, Professor of Forest Ecology at the University of Tuscia in Italy.
  • Jean-Pascal Van Ypersele, a climatologist who holds a PhD in Physical Sciences and is a professor at the Université Catholique de Louvain, where he co-directs the Master’s programme in Sciences and Environmental Management. He was Vice President of the IPCC until 2015.

Success for the Climate Initiative: a higher level of participation and more international projects

228 projects were submitted during the call for projects in 2016, compared to 65 in 2013 and 50 in 2010.

These 228 projects represent 1568 researchers from laboratories and universities based in 95 countries across the five continents. In comparison, only 28 countries were represented among the projects submitted in 2010.

95% of the leading European environmental science research institutes[1] submitted at least one project.

This major increase in participation highlights the Climate Initiative programme’s growing recognition and establishment in the landscape of scientific philanthropy.

It can also be explained by the growth in scientific production on the theme of climate change (just under 15,000 scientific publications with the keywords “climate change” appeared in 2010 while nearly 25,000 were counted in 2015).

 

About the Climate Initiative

Launched in 2010 with the support of the BNP Paribas Corporate Social Responsibility Delegation, this programme has already enabled ten international research teams to study the climate and raise the awareness of almost 200,000 people about climate change.

In 2012, the BNP Paribas Foundation received the jury’s special prize in the corporate philanthropy awards organised by the French Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy.

All the projects receiving support are presented on the BNP Paribas Foundation website.

About the BNP Paribas Foundation

Under the aegis of the Fondation de France, the BNP Paribas Foundation has been playing a key role in corporate philanthropy for 30 years. It also oversees BNP Paribas Group’s international philanthropic growth in all countries where the bank does business.

The BNP Paribas Foundation’s actions are part of a multi-disciplinary approach to philanthropy aimed at promoting innovative projects dedicated to culture, solidarity and the environment. The BNP Paribas Foundation pays close attention to the quality of its commitment to its partners, with the goal of supporting their projects over the long term. Since 1984, it has supported more than 300 cultural projects, 40 research programmes and a thousand social and educational initiatives in France and throughout the world.

 

Press contacts

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Florence Bardin

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(1) Order based on the Nature Index

In 2016, the BNP Paribas Swiss Foundation turned a new page and decided to expand its activities to environmental patronage.

By accompanying Swiss institutions and researchers, the Foundation wishes to invest in understanding and building awareness of contemporary climate change, while supporting the local research system.

170517_BNPPSF_Expo15_WebBanner3Already 6 million Euros in environmental research at the BNP Paribas Group!

The Group’s Foundation is actively engaged in favour of research on climate change through its programme Climate Initiative.

Around ten or so projects backed by large international laboratories have been funded for up to 6 million Euros since 2010.

As such, the Group’s objective is to understand the causes and effects of global warming in order to anticipate the consequences on our environment and on populations throughout the world. The Group also wishes to help citizens become aware of these issues via conferences and exhibitions, among other things.

A new Polar Institute for Switzerland

In 2016 and in line with actions led by the Group, the BNP Paribas Swiss Foundation started supporting environmental research. The Foundation demonstrated its commitment by joining the Swiss Polar Institute .

Based at EPFL, the Swiss Polar Institute is a consortium of Swiss universities – EPFL, the Federal Institute for Research on forests, snow and landscape WSL, ETH Zürich and the University of Bern – created in 2015. Its aim is to make Switzerland one of the key actors and facilitators in the field of extreme environments and polar research via collaborative and international scientific initiatives.

A unique expedition around the Antarctic!

Dorsel fin of fin whale as it surfaces prior to sounding Credit : Swiss Polar Institute

The Institute’s first major project is an international, scientific expedition of circumnavigation around the Antarctic continent (Antarctic Circumnavigation Expedition ). This operation, carried out from 20th December 2016 to 19th March 2017 aboard the Russian ship Akademik Treshnikov, was aimed at measuring and quantifying the impact of climate change and pollution in the Southern Ocean. 22 research projects led by 55 researchers from thirty different countries participated in the expedition.

Two Swiss research teams supported by the Foundation

In this context, the BNP Paribas Swiss Foundation chose to support, more specifically, two of the 22 projects present for the expedition. The first, led by Professor Heini Wernli of ETH Zürich, involved “Research on interactions between the air and the ocean”, whilst the second is piloted by EPFL with Professor Katherine C. Leonard and focuses on “analysing why the oceans are becoming desalinated”.

Come and discover the Foundation’s actions!

fondation 15 ans EN

As part of its long-standing commitment to help combat climate change, BNP Paribas commits to becoming carbon neutral by the end of the year in terms of the CO2 emissions arising from its own operations.

This goal will be achieved via three complementary initiatives:

  • Since 2012, BNP Paribas has already reduced its direct CO2 emissions by 15% per employee, in line with the Group’s target of a 25% reduction by 2020. This achievement is the result of a specific policy of promoting energy efficiency at the Bank’s buildings and data centres – a significant challenge given that the premises occupied by BNP Paribas worldwide total over 7 million square metres -and also optimising business travel.
  • Over half of all CO2 emissions arise from our electricity consumption. BNP Paribas is now committing itself to achieve a ‘carbon-neutral’ position by using only low carbon electricity in all countries where it is available.
  • The Group will also work to offset CO2 emissions that cannot be directly avoided or easily reduced, such as those arising from staff travel and natural gas consumption, through partnerships with benchmark organisations, in accordance with our Corporate Social Responsibility policies. For example, BNP Paribas is signing a partnership with the GoodPlanet Foundation to promote the construction of biodigesters – individual household biogas production facilities – in rural India.

Yann Arthus-Bertrand, founder and President of the GoodPlanet Foundation, said: “This project will enable some 12,000 families in India – over 50,000 people – to use clean energy. It will have not only a strong environmental impact, by limiting deforestation – since biogas will be substituted for wood or kerosene – but also considerable social impact as it will help to improve living conditions among the local population, especially women, by reducing the risk of respiratory illness or eye infections caused by polluted air inside their houses.”

Jean-Laurent Bonnafé, BNP Paribas Chief Executive Officer said: “Over the last few years, we’ve taken some significant steps with our climate-related policies. For instance, we doubled the funds earmarked for financing in the renewable energy field – to €15 billion by 2020 –  and also decided to cease financing coal-fired power plant projects. This new target of making our own operations ‘carbon-neutral’ will enable us to take our contribution to limiting global warming a stage further.”

With this commitment, BNP Paribas is strengthening its position as one of the European banks making the most effective contribution to attaining the COP21 climate goals. Among other recent noteworthy initiatives, the Bank:

  • has entirely ceased financing coal mining and coal-fired power plant projects in any country, and will not finance electricity companies unless they have drawn up a plan for reducing the proportion of coal in their generation mix that is at least as ambitious as the national carbon reduction plan in the country in which the company is establishedhas earmarked €100 million for investments by 2020 in innovative startups working to drive forward the transition to sustainable energy
  • is working to progressively incorporate a climate-related component into the methodology of rating companies and ventures which it finances: we have just joined the Carbon Pricing Leadership Coalition which, under the aegis of the World Bank, aims to support and encourage the implementation of a worldwide system for pricing carbon into industry and business
  • has, in line with its involvement in the Portfolio Decarbonization Coalition, published the carbon footprint of over 100 funds managed by BNP Paribas Investment Partners (BNPP IP); meanwhile BNPP IP offers a wide range of low-carbon funds to investors.

Discover our infographics

carbon neutral

View the full list of our climate change-related commitments

About BNP Paribas

BNP Paribas is a leading bank in Europe with an international reach. It has a presence in 74 countries, with more than 192,000 employees, including more than 146,000 in Europe. The Group has key positions in its three main activities: Domestic Markets and International Financial Services (whose retail-banking networks and financial services are covered by Retail Banking & Services) and Corporate & Institutional Banking, which serves two client franchises: corporate clients and institutional investors. The Group helps all its clients (individuals, community associations, entrepreneurs, SMEs, corporates and institutional clients) to realise their projects through solutions spanning financing, investment, savings and protection insurance.

In Europe, the Group has four domestic markets (Belgium, France, Italy and Luxembourg) and BNP Paribas Personal Finance is the European leader in consumer lending.

BNP Paribas is rolling out its integrated retail-banking model in Mediterranean countries, in Turkey, in Eastern Europe and a large network in the western part of the United States. In its Corporate & Institutional Banking and International Financial Services activities, BNP Paribas also enjoys top positions in Europe, a strong presence in the Americas as well as a solid and fast-growing business in Asia-Pacific

World Water Day highlights the work that still needs to be done to ensure people have access to safe water around the world.

Companies have a role to play in this crucial stakes, and BNP Paribas (Suisse) SA is currently working with sustainable development charity Raleigh International to create lasting change for disadvantaged communities in Nepal. The three-year partnership main focus is to increase access to safe, reliable and affordable drinking water and sanitation facilities, as well to improve hygiene practices, in three communities in Nepal among the worst affected by the 2015 earthquakes.

Supporting Nepal and access to safe water

Nepal is the second poorest country in Asia and the state has traditionally struggled to provide sufficient and safe water and sanitation coverage in its communities, particularly among those living in rural and hard to reach areas. Two major earthquakes hit the country in 2015 and caused devastating impact for the people and communities there. Thousands died, huge numbers of houses and other infrastructure were destroyed, and existing water and sanitation problems were exacerbated.

With support from BNP Paribas (Suisse) SA, Raleigh International is delivering sustainable development projects in Nepal through its youth-led approach. The project sees both international and Nepali youth volunteers working alongside rural communities to assist with improving water, sanitation and hygiene systems and practices in three communities of the Gorkha district (north-west of Kathmandu).

03 2017 Raleigh 2

A meaningful and impactful partnership since June 2016

Since June 2016, this partnership between the bank and Raleigh has already been having a positive and concrete impact on the ground in Nepal. During autumn 2016, the bank funded crucial water infrastructure for communities in the Gorkha region. The access to safe sanitation and hygiene facilities was thus successfully increased for 140 people in 21 vulnerable households, while safe hygiene practices were promoted among more than 270 community members. A dozen of young Nepali volunteers were also brought in to take part in the Raleigh Expedition programme in order to build their employability and increase their knowledge, skills and social capital to help them become actors of the sustainable development of their country.

03 2017 Raleigh

Onboarding Employees

Through 2017 and 2018 the bank will continue funding Raleigh Nepal’s water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) programme, and BNP Paribas (Suisse) SA employees will also be given the chance to take part in the development of projects as both Volunteers and Volunteer Project Managers.

Therefore, the partnership represents a ‘win-win’ opportunity both for the bank and for Raleigh. It is intended that this collaboration will deliver impact on the ground in Nepal through Raleigh’s programmes, but also on employee motivation within the bank, on leadership development for its staff, and on the development of the bank’s CSR strategy.

Philippe Penet, CIB Head of Specialized Trade Solutions at BNP Paribas (Suisse) SA, said of the partnership:

03 2017 Raleigh -Philippe Penet“We share the values of inspiring young people to make a positive change, values that are embedded in Raleigh International’s work in Nepal. That is why we are proud to support such projects, and to contribute to a sustainable future through providing safe water and sanitation and creating young leaders. This is a way for us to link ambition and ethics, giving our staff the chance to take part and grow into inspired, responsible leaders. We consider this commitment to be an integral part of our responsibility to society.”

James Sutton, Business Development Strategist at Raleigh International, says of the partnership:

03 2017 Raleigh - James Sutton“The spirit of Nepal’s rural communities following the earthquakes last year has been incredible. This exciting partnership will strengthen the resilience of those affected, contribute to lasting change, and help to build a culture of youth leadership. We would like to give BNP Paribas (Suisse) SA a warm welcome to the Raleigh family and thank them for being part of our mission to create lasting change for disadvantaged communities through youth.”

This year, around the special occasion that is Women’s day, BNP Paribas, Mixcity and the CSR teams, with the support of the General Management and especially its CEO Geoffroy Bazin, orchestrated not just one day but a whole week of events.

Women’s week (March 6 to 10, 2017)!

Women’s assets – by MixCity

This week, a variety of events are organised. It started off with a conference by Yann Borgstedt. He created the Womanity Foundation, which actively contributes to building “a world where women and men each have full economic, social and political participation “. Today, there will be a private showing of the film Desert Flower at the Bank. It narrates the life of model and UN ambassador, Waris Dirie.

This week is also built around the theme “Be bold for change” giving employees the opportunity to exchange on diversity, especially diversity in companies via Jump, an internal digital idea box and forum. They are also invited to exchange organically using The Never Eat Alone application, to discover new colleagues.

The spirit of our association MixCity is to mobilise the talents who happen to be women, to give them more confidence and an even stronger desire to take part in the major evolutions of our Business Lines and Functions. Our meetings are an opportunity to value and encourage the expression of the so called feminine values like sharing, transversality, respect and innovation, in a positive spirit and without ever taking ourselves too seriously!

MixCity Switzerland (an association created within BNP Paribas in Switzerland) regroups more than 70 women who, outside of their daily duties, regularly meet at conferences or networking events. These are opportunities for them to share their dynamism and their will to take part in the major changes that the bank and the sector have undergone in recent years. It is also a forum where they can exchange ideas, help each other and discuss common themes.

Geneva employees of BNP Paribas are now running on green energy. Since last January, the eight-seat shuttle which permanently circulates between the various buildings of the bank has been fuelled by natural gas. While BNP Paribas was already using a natural gas-powered vehicle to distribute the post and an electric bike for its courier, the bank has now crossed a further threshold for environmental-friendliness in Switzerland. “This is the first minibus of this type in Switzerland powered by natural gas,” says a delighted Igor Joly, Chief Administration Officer. The advantages of this fuel are numerous, beginning with a significant reduction in pollution. It also allows CO2 emissions to be reduced by an average of 39% in comparison with a petrol-driven vehicle of equal performance and releases almost no harmful substances into the atmosphere. Another advantage: lower fuel costs. This shuttle was certified by SIG, one of whose primary directives is improving the quality of life by promoting the principles of sustainable development. In this spirit, the certification of the BNP Paribas (Suisse) SA shuttle illustrates SIG’s desire to develop natural gas fuel in Geneva in order to encourage the development of clean vehicles and thereby contribute to the reduction of CO2 in the canton. The acquisition of this ecological shuttle demonstrates BNP Paribas’ commitment to sustainable development through its social and environmental responsibility (SER) policy.  In 2011, the bank played a pioneering role by installing solar panels on the roof its Geneva headquarters. A further example: In Switzerland, BNP Paribas uses only FSC-certified paper and intends to reduce its overall consumption by 20 to 25% over the next three years. “We think that as an economic actor the group has a role to play in social and environmental policy,” explains Joly. “Furthermore, our commitment in this sector is a great advantage in attracting new employees, since the current generation is rightfully increasingly concerned with these aspects.”