Sustainable mobility: all aboard!

In Europe, one quarter of CO2 emissions can be traced back to the transport sector. This means there can be no successful green transition without decarbonizing mobility. But the endeavor is colossal and will require more than a collection of small gestures: an integrated approach is needed, backed by massive investment. As Europe’s leading bank, BNP Paribas has a key role to play in financing and accelerating this historic and systemic transition. How? By connecting the dots, i.e., by acting on multiple fronts simultaneously.

• Promoting sustainable mobility will primarily mean reducing the emissions associated with our everyday trips. One key way to achieve this is by powering cars with cleaner energy, and that is exactly the role green hydrogen could play in the next decades. BNP Paribas is actively supporting the development of low-carbon hydrogen , most recently by providing manufacturer Hyundai Motor Company (?????) with one of the world’s first hydrogen mobility financing .
• Just like hydrogen, electrification, too, is a promising lead for a greener automotive sector, as the Paris Motor Show recently highlighted. Yet to truly go mainstream, electric mobility will require a wide network of charging infrastructure. That is why BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions ?is financing recharging stations throughout France. Simultaneously, Arval BNP Paribas Group is working towards managing a fleet of 700,000 electric vehicles by 2025.
• Another way the financial sector can encourage the rise of sustainable mobility is by implementing investment policies that act like signals for the entire industry. This is at the root of BNP Paribas’s recent Climate Analytics and Alignment Report , which aims to align our portfolio with our net-zero commitment, by setting at least a -25% carbon emissions intensity reduction target in the automotive sector, to be reached by 2025.?Similarly, we expect the share of electric vehicles in our portfolio to rise from 4% in 2020 to 25% by 2025.
• Another oft forgotten, yet crucial component of sustainability? Social inclusivity. During our Mobility Days , we asked experts Bruno Marzloff and Aurélien Bigo about how to ensure that access to mobility remains a right every user can enjoy.

• While mobility of people takes center stage, there can be no sustainable transport without greener logistics. In a recent episode of our podcast On the Move, Jean-Michel Mercier , Head of the Industrial Vehicles Observatory at BNP Paribas Artegy , takes a look at the perspectives for the trucking and road freight market .

New frontiers

As mobility behaviors and technologies evolve, so must the insurance sector. Startup Qover , a part of? BNP Paribas Cardif 's investment fund managed by Cathay Innovation , aims to transform traditional insurance models by offering digital insurance solutions for bike and automotive with a pan-European approach and maximum responsiveness.?

Explorers

• While hydrogen and electrification are all the rage, biomass is quietly on the rise. Yves Floch highlights its value for secluded areas such as islands, and its usefulness as a short-term replacement for coal.?

Milestones

Innovative financial instruments can give a much-needed boost to the sustainable transition of the mobility sector.

• As the world’s largest automobile market, China’s transition to sustainable mobility is no small endeavor. 吉利控股集团 took a pioneering step by obtaining the first overseas sustainable club loan for a Chinese automaker. BNP Paribas is among the seven international banks arranging the three-year $400 million facility .
• Meanwhile, in the United States, the auto industry is revving up its electric vehicle investment. The latest evidence of this: 通用汽车 just launched a $2.25 billion green bond . This inaugural green bond, for which BNP Paribas acted as active bookrunner and billing and delivery agent, will be instrumental to GM’s plan to build 2 million electric vehicles annually by 2025.?

From the observation post

In partnership with four NGOs ( Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) , CARE , International Committee of the Red Cross - ICRC and ifaw ) the BNP Paribas Rescue & Recover Fund (RRF) provides emergency fundraising to support disaster victims. Created one year after the tsunami in Japan from BNP Paribas employees’ will to help victims of disasters and powered by solid partnerships that bolster its efficiency, the RRF is celebrating its 10th birthday. Over this decade, and thanks to the generosity of its donors, most of them BNP Paribas’ employees, the RRF financed over $13 million worth of field actions. Find out what’s next for the fund!