EDITION 4, DECEMBER 2021

Welcome to the fourth edition of Towards Planet Net-Zero, a newsletter for our BNP Paribas CIB communities.

This is our last newsletter of 2021, a year where we have seen significant international developments driven by COP26, strategic industry announcements - including the launch of the UN-convened Net-Zero Banking Alliance - and good progress on energy, climate, biodiversity and sustainable mobility topics. We’ve also witnessed the very real impact of extreme weather events driven by climate change around the world, which has sharpened our focus on the need for all us to not only continue in our sustainability efforts, but to accelerate them.?

As we head into 2022 with the urgent need to transition to net-zero by 2050 and get our net-zero game plan in place within this decade, we leave you with three stories that illustrate what this transition entails. They provide hope and inspiration that achieving a sustainable future is indeed possible.

Wishing you and your loved ones a safe holiday season.

Driving electric vehicles uptake across Europe

The International Energy Agency estimates that electric vehicles (EVs) will go from around 5% of global car sales in 2021 to more than 60% by 2030 , creating a need for the right infrastructure in place to support this colossal growth.

IONITY, Europe’s leading high-power charging network, has announced a €700m investment to accelerate the Europe-wide expansion of its network and improve the customer charging experience.

The combined investment from current shareholders – five global automakers - and BlackRock - will enable IONITY to increase the number of high-power 350kW charging points by more than four times, from 1,500 to 7,000 by 2025.

With the electrification of the mobility sector an imperative in the race to net-zero, IONITY’s expansion will help remove a major hurdle to the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) in Europe and reduce the risk of range-anxiety around long-distance travel.

BNP Paribas acted as exclusive financial advisor to IONITY for its equity fundraising, following its role in supporting early-stage financing as well as providing cash management services.

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The intersection of biodiversity and the climate crisis

Natural capital is the world’s stock of natural resources that provide valuable goods and services to people. It’s also the life support system of our society and the economy. Therefore, if we want our economies to survive, we must take an urgent look at biodiversity loss.

In its 2020 Global Risks Report, the World Economic Forum estimated that $44 trillion, or around 50% of global GDP, is either highly or moderately dependent on nature and its services. Just like climate change, biodiversity loss and species’ extinction should now be considered systemic risks, which demand that businesses and investors take a holistic approach to addressing them.

Nature-based solutions to the climate crisis must, however, be carefully thought through. There is a danger that in our haste to solve one crisis we create many other environmental and social problems.

At this year’s BNP Paribas Sustainable Future Forum Global Edition, we tackled all of these urgent issues with speakers from TNFD, CDP, Gold Standard, the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation and UPM, as well as business leaders from other prominent companies and institutions. Click below to find what they said.

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Asia: new solutions in the transportation sector

The transport sector was a major topic at the recent COP26 climate summit, with the emphasis on transitioning the world to zero-emission vehicles. This shift must be accelerated if the world is to meet the aims of the Paris Agreement and limit the temperature increase to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels.?

It is a sentiment that was widely shared by Asia Pacific experts gathered at this year’s BNP Paribas Sustainable Future Forum (SFF), who discussed the opportunities and challenges of the transition in the region’s transportation sector.

Passenger vehicles are responsible for more carbon emissions than any other mode of transportation – but electrification is moving quickly. Maritime transport is also a major emitter of CO2, contributing 2.89%?to the global total in 2018.

BNP Paribas is now seeing established companies from the global transport industry, such as Zhejiang Geely Holdings, Volvo and Berge Bulk, looking to reduce emissions from their own operations and embrace new ways of doing business, including developing innovative solutions and setting ambitious reduction targets. As the Bank for a Changing World, BNP Paribas is mobilised to support its clients and guide them through the transition towards a sustainable economy.

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