FinanceMap scores this financial institution in the following areas. Please navigate to the relevant tab for in-depth analysis
FinanceMap assesses these portfolios for this financial institution. Please navigate to the relevant tab for in-depth analysis.
Portfolio Paris Alignment analysis of this institution's activities in this portfolio area in 2020–2021.
Value Assessed: $121B
Sector Paris Alignment scores for the sectors to which this portfolio has exposure. FinanceMap Paris Alignment analysis is limited to the automotive, upstream fossil fuel, and power sectors.
Portfolio Paris Alignment analysis of this institution's activities in this portfolio area in 2020–2021.
Value Assessed: $79.0B
Sector Paris Alignment scores for the sectors to which this portfolio has exposure. FinanceMap Paris Alignment analysis is limited to the automotive, upstream fossil fuel, and power sectors.
Fossil fuel production companies are defined as those with primary sector of operations in the up-, mid-, and/or downstream segments of fossil fuel production. Green companies are defined as companies having over 75% revenue deriving from Substantial Contribution to Mitigation activities under the EU Taxonomy.
Portion of AUM Assessed: $6.18B
Sector Paris Alignment scores for the sectors in which the asset manager has shareholdings. FinanceMap Paris Alignment analysis is limited to the automotive, upstream fossil fuel, and power sectors.
| Holding Name | Contribution to Sector Production |
|---|---|
| Iberdrola SA | 56.2% |
| Engie SA | 11.5% |
| Clearway Energy Inc | 6.1% |
| Nextera Energy Inc | 3.9% |
| Enel SpA | 3.6% |
| Exelon Corp | 2.6% |
| EDP Renovaveis SA | 2.3% |
| Neoen SA | 2.2% |
| Public Service Enterprise Group Inc | 1.4% |
| Electricite de France SA | 1.3% |
| Holding Name | Contribution to Sector Production |
|---|---|
| Stellantis NV | 65.9% |
| Renault SA | 22.4% |
| Bayerische Motoren Werke AG | 8.0% |
| Subaru Corp | 1.5% |
| Mercedes Benz Group AG | 0.8% |
| Toyota Motor Corp | 0.4% |
| Mazda Motor Corp | 0.4% |
| Tesla Inc | 0.3% |
| BYD Co Ltd | 0.2% |
| Honda Motor Co Ltd | 0.2% |
| Holding Name | Contribution to Sector Production |
|---|---|
| TotalEnergies SE | 50.6% |
| Shell PLC | 24.4% |
| BP PLC | 6.1% |
| Eni SpA | 4.1% |
| Petroleo Brasileiro SA Petrobras | 3.4% |
| Chevron Corp | 2.8% |
| Exxon Mobil Corp | 2.6% |
| Inpex Corp | 2.0% |
| Repsol SA | 0.9% |
| Marathon Oil Corp | 0.7% |
All equity funds that FinanceMap has identified as being managed by this asset manager. Click through to a fund's profile page to view in-depth analysis.
Société Generale has been assessed through analyzing Lyxor Asset Management (Lyxor) disclosures, as the main asset management subsidiary of the financial group. While in April 2021, Amundi entered into exclusive talks to purchase Lyxor, the deal is due to be completed by the end of 2021. Therefore, Lyxor's engagement activity up until the end of 2021 will fall under Société Generale for the purpose of this scoring.
Lyxor is partially transparent about its engagements; it does not disclose a full list of companies it engages with, although it does publish summary information, and including specific examples of engagements and outcomes sought. It is transparent about its AGM voting record, but it does not publish voting justifications for key votes.
Lyxor's climate engagement process is centered around the CA100+ collaborative engagement initiative. However, it is unclear if engagements have clearly defined milestones or success criteria. However, unsuccessful engagements will result in engagement escalation.
It appears to engage with companies on climate around climate governance, Paris-aligned GHG emission targets, TCFD reporting, and decarbonization targets. For example, it engaged with companies in the utilities sector on behalf of the Climate Action 100+ (CA100) around disclosure in line with TCFD recommendations.
While it states it will generally support lobbying focused shareholder resolutions, it is unclear if Lyxor is advocating for companies to align policy influence to the Paris Agreement through engagements.
Lyxor is willing to vote against management at company AGMs for climate reasons to escalate concerns. However, ShareAction's Voting Matters report indicates Lyxor has been unsupportive of climate resolutions, supporting 2% in 2020. In 2020, Lyxor co-filed a shareholder resolution at Enel as part of the CA100+ coalition which was voted in favor and adopted.
ProxyInsight data suggests that Lyxor has greatly improved support of climate change resolutions which InfluenceMap categorizes as in line with the Paris Agreement, supporting 100% in 2021.
FinanceMap's methodology to measure the engagement process on climate was developed in consultation with several of the world's leading asset managers and uses key aspects of the UK Financial Reporting Council's 2020 Stewardship Code . The Stewardship Code was chosen to benchmark engagement quality as it provides an ambitious framework and detailed definitions of what constitutes effective engagement. FinanceMap defines the term ‘engagement’ as referring to all investor actions undertaken to influence the management strategy of the companies they own including private communications with corporate management and appointed advisors; questions at AGMs/other company meetings; comments on the company in the media; escalation and the shareholder resolution process (filing, voting behavior). FinanceMap’s methodology breaks the engagement process down into a set of sub-activities and looks for evidence associated with these across publicly available data sources.
Climate-relevance categorization of shareholder resolutions is based on the IPCC’s Special Report on 1.5°C and its concluded need for “rapid and far-reaching transitions in land, energy, industry, buildings, transport, and cities.” FinanceMap scored voting on any resolution where the intent and likely outcome is consistent with this IPCC stated need. The voting data is drawn from asset managers' disclosures to the US Security Exchange Commission (SEC), asset manager websites (including third-party websites they link to), directly from the asset managers, and through specialist voting data provider Insightia. The full list of resolutions assessed is available here.
The following table outlines the key queries and data sources, which FinanceMap uses to assess financial institutions’ sustainable finance policy engagement. Every evidence piece is assessed on a five-point scale of -2,-1,0,1,2 or NA (not applicable)/NS (not scored). All queries, data sources, and evidence pieces are weighted against one another in a matrix system to arrive at a final top-level score. Clicking on specific cells will load the underlying evidence and information on how it has been assessed.
Société Générale appears to be fairly active on sustainable finance policy, with mostly positive engagement. Société Générale has stated support for a role for finance in meeting the EU's climate goals, and appears to advocate for investment strategies guided by the need to achieve net-zero by 2050 as a founder member of the Net-Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA). Subsidiary Lyxor Asset Management’s CEO also supported action to keep global warming below 1.5. Société Générale has stated support for sustainable finance regulation, although in its CDP responses it states that it supports the EU's agenda on sustainable finance with "minor exceptions".
Société Générale has strongly supported regulated corporate ESG disclosure, advocating in its 2019-21 CDP responses that it supports the mandatory implementation of the TCFD's recommendations and, also in 2020, supporting an ambitious review of the Non-Financial Reporting Directive (NFRD) in a European Commission consultation.
Société Générale’s CEO did state full support to the taxonomy in a media article in 2021. However, in response to the Commission in 2020, Société Générale opposed the expansion of the taxonomy to cover environmentally harmful activities. Société Générale further suggested a delay in the implementation of the taxonomy and suggested a less prescriptive taxonomy criteria in response to the Commission in 2021. In a 2020 website article, subsidiary Société Générale Securities Services stated support for the EU's taxonomy. However, in a 2019 article, Société Générale Securities Services argued that the taxonomy did not sufficiently recognize transitional efforts.
In 2020, subsidiary Lyxor Asset Management responded to the European Commission's consultation on benchmarks, advocating for an ambitious and urgent approach to the EU's new labels for climate benchmarks and supporting more ambitious ESG disclosure for all benchmarks. In feedback to ESMA in 2019, Société Générale supported the consideration of ESG preferences in the advice investment firms give to clients and supported the EU Ecolabel with minor exceptions. However, it did not support suggestions to create guidance on including ESG preferences in investor financial advice and sustainability products as a default option in feedback to the Commission in 2020. In a website article in 2020, Société Générale Securities Services also appeared to support EU investor disclosure regulations but argued that without data availability, it could prove a “waste of time and energy”.
Société Générale has stated it is engaging with policymakers on sustainable finance, with some detail on a small number of policies in its climate report. Société Générale has disclosed its trade association memberships, as has Lyxor Asset Management, but both have not given any further details of its governance of indirect influence.
InfluenceMap’s methodology for assessing lobbying on sustainable finance policy closely follows InfluenceMap’s established methodology on climate policy engagement, which is used extensively by investors, including via the Climate Action 100+ investor engagement process. Our full methodology can be found here.
Under our assessment of sustainable finance lobbying, InfluenceMap considers engagement on all financial policies which intersect with climate and/or other sustainability issues. The analysis takes into account both the engagement of the financial institution and the activities of industry associations they hold membership of.
InfluenceMap’s methodology covers seven publicly available data sources, searching for evidence of engagement and corporate positioning since 2017. To determine the policy issues within the scope of the analysis, InfluenceMap breaks down sustainable finance policy engagement into a series of subcategories, or 'queries'. These are designed to cover high-level issues relating to the importance of sustainable finance, as well as more specific areas of sustainable finance policymaking. InfluenceMap’s research process searches for evidence of an organization's engagement with each sustainable finance policy issue, across each of the data sources.
The following table outlines the key queries and data sources, which FinanceMap uses to assess asset managers' corporate engagement programs. Every evidence piece is assessed on a five-point scale of -2,-1,0,1,2 or NA (not applicable)/NS (not scored). All queries, data sources, and evidence pieces are weighted against one another in a matrix system to arrive at a final top-level score. Clicking on specific cells will load the underlying evidence and information on how it has been assessed.
In this section, we depict graphically the relationships the corporation has with trade associations, federations, advocacy groups and other third parties who may be acting on their behalf to influence climate change policy. Each of the columns above represents one relationship the corporation appears to have with such a third party.
In these columns, the top, dark section represents the strength of the relationship the corporation has with the influencer. For example if a corporation's senior executive also held a key role in the trade association, we would deem this to be a strong relationship and it would be on the far left of the chart above, with the weaker ones to the right. Click on these grey shaded upper sections for details of these relationships. The middle section contains a link to the organization score details of the influencer concerned, so you can see the details of its climate change policy influence. Click on the middle sections for for details of the trade associations. The lower section contains the organization score of that influencer, the lower the more negatively it is influencing climate policy.
InfluenceMap Data Point on Corporate - Influencer Relationship
(1 = weak, 10 = strong)
Société Générale is a member of SIFMA
not specified
InfluenceMap Data Point on Corporate - Influencer Relationship
(1 = weak, 10 = strong)
Jeffery Rosen is on the board of SIFMA.
Jeffery Rosen (Managing Director & COO, Americas Global Markets, Société Générale)
InfluenceMap Data Point on Corporate - Influencer Relationship
(1 = weak, 10 = strong)
Société Générale is a member of SIFMA
not specified
InfluenceMap Data Point on Corporate - Influencer Relationship
(1 = weak, 10 = strong)
Jeffery Rosen is on the board of SIFMA.
Jeffery Rosen (Managing Director & COO, Americas Global Markets, Société Générale)
InfluenceMap Data Point on Corporate - Influencer Relationship
(1 = weak, 10 = strong)
Société Générale is a sustaining member of MFA.
not specified
InfluenceMap Data Point on Corporate - Influencer Relationship
(1 = weak, 10 = strong)
Antoine Babule is MFA director. As of February 2022, Antoine Babule does no longer appear to be on the board of MFA.
Antoine Babule (Managing Director, Head of Prime Services, Société Générale)
InfluenceMap Data Point on Corporate - Influencer Relationship
(1 = weak, 10 = strong)
Société Générale is a sustaining member of MFA.
not specified
InfluenceMap Data Point on Corporate - Influencer Relationship
(1 = weak, 10 = strong)
Antoine Babule is MFA director. As of February 2022, Antoine Babule does no longer appear to be on the board of MFA.
Antoine Babule (Managing Director, Head of Prime Services, Société Générale)
InfluenceMap Data Point on Corporate - Influencer Relationship
(1 = weak, 10 = strong)
Société Générale is a member of the French Association of Financial Management which is a national association member of PensionsEurope
not specified
InfluenceMap Data Point on Corporate - Influencer Relationship
(1 = weak, 10 = strong)
Société Générale is a member of the French Association of Financial Management which is a national association member of PensionsEurope
not specified
InfluenceMap Data Point on Corporate - Influencer Relationship
(1 = weak, 10 = strong)
As of October 2022, Société Générale Group is a member of UK Finance, which is a member of EBF.
not specified
--no extract--
InfluenceMap Data Point on Corporate - Influencer Relationship
(1 = weak, 10 = strong)
Frédéric OUDÉA is no longer on the EBF board
Frédéric OUDÉA (Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Société Générale Group)
InfluenceMap Data Point on Corporate - Influencer Relationship
(1 = weak, 10 = strong)
As of October 2022, Société Générale Group is a member of UK Finance, which is a member of EBF.
not specified
--no extract--
InfluenceMap Data Point on Corporate - Influencer Relationship
(1 = weak, 10 = strong)
Frédéric OUDÉA is no longer on the EBF board
Frédéric OUDÉA (Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Société Générale Group)
The board has regular oversight of the organization’s climate strategy and is responsible for approving the organization’s CSR policy and risk appetite. In April 2021, it joined the Net Zero Banking Alliance, and its insurance subsidiary joined the Net Zero Asset Owner Alliance. Management-level positions and committees are assigned clear climate-related responsibilities, and there are processes in place to ensure they monitor the progress of climate-related issues and initiatives.
Société Générale has referenced numerous climate-related risks and opportunities it considers relevant over different time horizons and considers climate-related risks and opportunities on its lending, advisory, and investment activities. It is transparent about how it has integrated climate-related risks and opportunities into its business planning and has included examples in its CDP response and TCFD reporting.
The organization appears to have tested the resilience of some business areas using climate scenarios. For example, it has used a physical risk scenario on its French retail mortgage loan portfolio to assess resilience to drought, river flooding, and coastal flooding. It has also used a transition scenario on its lending portfolio to examine its portfolio allocation. However, it is unclear if it has tested the resilience of its business strategy across a robust range of climate scenarios.
Société Générale uses several tools and processes to identify and assess transition and physical risks for reputational, credit, and operational risk factors. For example, the organization developed a climate vulnerability indicator (CVI) to assess transition risk impact on corporate loan books. Moreover, the organization incorporates climate-related risks into assessments of several risk categories. It also highlights the processes used to manage and mitigate climate-related risks. For example, the group has adopted a range of E&S guidelines applied to climate-related sectors, clients, and transactions. It is transparent about how products or investment strategies might be affected by the transition to a lower-carbon economy and provides examples for managing direct and indirect impacts. The organization appears to have integrated climate-related risks into the group’s standard risk assessment framework.
Société Générale is transparent about the key metrics used to measure and manage climate-related risks and opportunities against its main climate-related targets. For example, it discloses metrics on its credit portfolio exposure to thermal coal power and mining, oil and gas, power generation, shipping, and automotive sectors.
The organization is transparent about Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions data and has some relevant Scope 3 emissions disclosures. Société Générale discloses historical financed emissions of its corporate credit portfolio as well as the percentage of sectors exposed to transition risks relative to its corporate portfolio.
It has set various targets and commitments to measure and monitor climate-related risks and opportunities, including targets for sustainable finance and reduction in the financing of high-carbon activities. Its 2020 TCFD report highlights new commitments to align its portfolios with the Paris Agreement with details on baselines, time periods, and KPIs. In April 2021, Société Générale joined the Net Zero Banking Alliance as a founding member.
Société Générale is currently phasing out of its financing of coal-related activities and companies that generate revenue from coal, planning to exit the sector completely by 2030 for companies with assets in the EU or OECD and by 2040 for the rest of the world. To move towards this commitment, the organization has set updated criteria in its 2020 thermal coal policy.
Société Générale has made targets to reduce its portfolio linked to oil and gas extraction by 10% in 2025. In November 2021, the organization updated its oil and gas financing policies which included shale oil and gas, oil sands, extra heavy crude oil, Arctic oil, and Ecuadorian Amazon oil. It states it will not finance new transactions in these categories, pure upstream players for which resources represent more than 30% of overall production, or diversified players for which resources represent more than 30% of revenues.
When providing financing for nuclear projects, the organization requires enhanced due diligence to ensure the host country and clients meet international safety standards. This policy does not appear to have been updated since 2014, so it is unclear how the organization is positioning the role of nuclear with regard to the goals of the Paris Agreement.
The organization has communicated support for a low-carbon economy, has made a net-zero by 2050 pledge, and has been increasing its renewables financing. In addition, Société Générale is committed to reducing the carbon intensity of its financing activities related to electricity production.
FinanceMap’s Climate Governance and Policies analysis assesses statements financial institutions (FIs) are making on how they are incorporating climate issues into their decision-making and operations using FinanceMap’s matrix methodology. This methodology is adapted from the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) recommendations and guidelines, Net-Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA) or equivalent Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net-Zero (GFANZ) initiative reporting, and IPCC and IEA technology statements. The TCFD provide guidance on 11 recommendations across four areas which are reflected in our matrix: Governance, Strategy, Risk Management, and Metrics and Targets. Additional benchmarks have been introduced to strengthen the ambition of scoring criteria in the assessment of targets, which are supplemented by guidance from the NZBA or equivalent GFANZ initiatives.
Additionally, Science-Based Policy (SBP) benchmarks are used to measure alignment of an FIs technology positions with the science of climate change. These benchmarks are applied to an FIs internal policies on technologies including coal, oil, gas, nuclear, and renewables and also assesses its engagement with broader climate and energy policy issues such as advocacy on the role and importance of different strategy types in the future energy mix.
For each TCFD recommendation and technology, FIs statements are applied to a five point scoring scale ranging from +2 to -2, measuring alignment with the relevant benchmarks. The detailed scores for this FI are displayed below within each matrix cell.
The following table outlines the key queries and data sources, which FinanceMap uses to assess financial institutions climate governance, targets and policies. Every evidence piece is assessed on a five-point scale of -2,-1,0,1,2 or NA (not applicable)/NS (not scored). All queries, data sources, and evidence pieces are weighted against one another in a matrix system to arrive at a final top-level score. Clicking on specific cells will load the underlying evidence and information on how it has been assessed.
Open PDF file of Data Source