BPCE - 2020 Universal Registration Document

NON-FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE STATEMENT

PUTTING OUR COOPERATIVE IDENTITY TO WORK FOR REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Putting our cooperative identity to work 2.1 for regional development

2.1.1

Drawing on our business model to create sustainable, robust value

OUR MAIN ACTIVITIES Groupe BPCE conducts all banking and insurance businesses through its two main cooperative networks – Banque Populaire and Caisse d’Epargne – and their subsidiaries. It is the second largest banking group in France and has a strong local presence. Its 100,000 employees serve 36 million customers, including 9 million cooperative shareholders, performing their duties with a constant eye on the needs of individuals and local areas. With 14 Banques Populaires, 15 Caisses d’Epargne, Natixis and Banque Palatine and Oney, Groupe BPCE offers its customers a full range of products and services, including deposits and savings, investments, cash management, payment instruments, and fixing, insurance and investment solutions. In keeping with its cooperative structure, the Group builds lasting relationships with its customers and helps them achieve their goals. It contributes to financing more than 20% of the French economy. For more information, please see Chapter 1 of this document. THE MAJOR CHALLENGES RELATED TO OUR ENVIRONMENT AND CLIMATE CHANGE Since 2009, international climate change negotiations and European and French policies on energy transition have relied heavily on the role played by banks and investors to channel financing into initiatives to preserve the climate. New international financial standards are therefore being developed to guide the financing of the economy, control the risks and take advantage of the opportunities linked to climate change, and provide a transparent and common communication framework for all economic players. At the COP 21 Climate Summit in 2015, Paris was the first financial center to announce its support for the scientific consensus on the impact of greenhouse gas emissions and to take steps to ensure the financial sector contributes to speeding up the transition to a low carbon economy.

The European Commission’s sustainable finance strategy and the action plan for its implementation presented in March 2018 aim to redirect financial flows towards a more sustainable economy. This plan includes eight areas of initiatives: establishing a taxonomy of sustainable activities, creating standards and labels, focusing on sustainable projects, integrating sustainability criteria (E, S, G) into financial consulting, integrating the notion of sustainability into comparison methods, and integrating ESG criteria into risk management,whether in terms of rating, duty of information for asset managers and institutional investors, or prudential rules. This strategy was reinforced by the announcementof the Green Deal in 2020. Our stakeholders – the European Commission, the rating agencies, the regulatory authorities, NGOs, our investors, our customers and our cooperative shareholders – regularly ask what we are doing to tackle climate change and protect biodiversity. Scientists are unanimous on the link between damage to biodiversity and the latest pandemics, and the link between climate change and changes in biodiversity. Three-quarters of current diseases are zoonotic. Tropical diseases (dengue fever, chikungunya, Lyme disease, etc.) are appearing in geographical areas that had so far been spared. The Covid-19 pandemic,which is striking the whole world, illustrates the consequences of biodiversity damage on the economy and our daily lives. The ongoing climate change is already affecting whole swaths of the economy. As a banker and insurer, Groupe BPCE is ready to meet these challenges and help its customers in the transition towards a more sustainable economy. Groupe BPCE’s capacity to meet its customers’ needs and create value is intrinsically linked to changes in its ecosystem, for example new regulations, environmental issues, societal and social changes, or the consequences of globalization.

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UNIVERSAL REGISTRATION DOCUMENT 2020 | GROUPE BPCE

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