• Thursday morning, the city of Lyon voted for a selection system for banking establishments on criteria of "social and environmental responsibility", before contracting loans.

  • A questionnaire will be sent each year to banking establishments so that they can provide information on their carbon footprint or their commitment to the preservation of biodiversity.

  • The opposition sees in this approach “a moralizing vision” and “a somewhat brutal method”.

The city of Lyon acted this Thursday in city council that its future loans would now be made with ethical banks.

What do we mean by ethical banks?

These are banking institutions that “position themselves in a strategy of limiting the negative environmental and social impacts” of their financing.

Impacts that would in fact be harmful to the climate and living organisms.

At the time of presenting this deliberation, voted by elected environmentalists and leftists but criticized by the opposition, the first deputy Audrey Hénocque highlighted the harmful activities of the "four largest companies" without naming them but underlining their carbon footprint "greater than the whole of France".

The municipality, where bank loans represent a total of 400 million euros, will send a questionnaire each year to the banks so that they declare in particular their actions in terms of preserving biodiversity or combating deforestation, their support for development renewable energies, as well as their strategy for reducing their CO2 emissions.

It will also be theirs if it participates in projects "related to the fossil fuel sector".



“We would prefer to see you negotiate good rates, with complete impartiality”

Some in the opposition saw in this approach a “moralizing vision”.

"We would prefer to see you negotiate good rates, in all impartiality," said Béatrice de Montille, elected from the center right and independent group.

For the progressive and republican group, “the method is a bit brutal” and it “risks leading to missteps”, confided Georges Képénékian.

Several cities have adopted this method of selecting banks, including Paris, Bordeaux and Besançon.

A pioneer in this field, Bourg-en-Bresse (Ain) has been using the ethical questionnaire for two years.

Economy

Is an “ethical” bank possible?

Yes, answers the Nave

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Savings: Livret A recorded a new record month in September

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