In December 2023, our campaign to stop banks from financing fossil fuels had a huge win in France. After years of action by hundreds of activists and civil society organizations, Crédit Agricole – France’s second-largest bank, and a major investor in fossil fuels – announced it will stop funding new fossil fuel projects.
Since 2015, when the Paris Climate Agreement was signed, Crédit Agricole Group has given over $89 billion to fossil fuels companies. The bank was a key financial supporter of TotalEnergies, the French oil and gas giant behind major polluting projects like EACOP. It also helped fund at least six other companies responsible for “carbon bombs” — huge fossil fuel projects that could release more than one billion tonnes of CO₂.
350.org played a key role in bringing together civil society groups to stand up to Crédit Agricole’s damaging financing. We raised public awareness and led creative actions to push for change. This victory is a testament to the power of people coming together to demand a clean energy future!
Since we started the campaign to end fossil fuels financing in France in 2016, our work has led to big changes. We have convinced major financial institutions — like Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations, Banque Publique d’Investissement, Agence Française de Développement, and La Banque Postale — to update their fossil fuel and energy policies. Now, we’re focused on making sure that money goes to increasing clean, local renewable energy solutions.
From Africa to Asia, North America and Europe, we are keeping an eye on those wrecking our climate. In December 2023 our team in France worked with the Multinationals Observatory to release a new report showing why it’s time to stop fossil fuel companies and switch to clean energy.
This report called “TotalEnergies: This is what a total phase-out looks like” was published during the UN Climate Summit, COP28. It used the French oil company TotalEnergies as a case study to show world leaders how we can shut down the fossil fuel industry, with concrete steps.
After we released the report, we teamed up with Notre Affaire À Tous to launch the campaign “Totalment”. Our work got lots of attention in top French news outlets. Shortly after, thanks to the efforts from 350 and several other CSOs – and following years of work in the StopEACOP campaign, exposing Total’s role in this destructive project – the French Parliament started a groundbreaking six-month inquiry against TotalEnergies.
Led by the Green senator Yannick Jadot, the investigation questioned company executives and looked into how TotalEnergies’ actions hurt the planet. The final report, published by the Senate, officially exposed how TotalEnergies’ failed to protect our climate and human rights – for the first time in France’s history!
In Germany, our team and local groups have been calling on city energy companies to break ties with “Zukunft Gas”, the gas industry association. Since we began our campaign in October 2023, 44 cities left the gas lobby group – a considerable drop in their membership.
Together with partners, we showed how the gas lobby is slowing down the transition to clean and affordable renewable energy. In 2024, we built a strong team of local volunteers who helped put pressure on city energy providers. We also supported local groups to create petitions, hold events, organize creative actions and get media attention.
In July 2024, we had a big win when two major municipal utilities, Badenova and Rhenag, left “Zukunft Gas”. We showed how the gas lobby was pushing cities into risky and expensive fossil gas infrastructure. With our campaign, we challenged their influence over local energy suppliers, making it easier for Germany to move toward affordable renewable energy.
We kept up our pressure against oil and gas exploration in the North Sea in 2024 – and it worked! We teamed up with the Stop Rosebank coalition to organize multiple online actions, like petitions and sending letters to politicians. One of the first and biggest events was a digital day of action targeting Norway’s prime minister, calling out the Norwegian oil company Equinor for its role in the project. More than 160,000 people joined in!
We also put pressure on UK lawmakers and helped bring Rosebank to court. 350.org was one of several organizations backing a legal case started in January 2024 to challenge the exploration of the Rosebank oil field – leading to a historic win one year later.
Putting money into clean energy means more jobs, more local income, and less pollution – and it is cheaper than fossil fuels. We won’t stop until all fossil fuels stay in the ground, and those who caused the damage pay their share to move us towards clean and accessible renewable energy fast and fairly.
One of the biggest things stopping the world from switching to renewable energy is proper finance. The money we need for growing clean and fair energy already exists – it’s just hidden in the pockets of the super-rich who have polluted the most.
While climate impacts get worse, energy prices go up, and people struggle with the cost of living – billionaires become richer than ever. If we tax them more fairly, we can use that money to make renewable energy cheaper, public transport cleaner and cut emissions.
In July 2024, we launched our campaign calling on governments in France, Germany and the UK to Tax Their Billions. This campaign connects grassroots activism to big policy decisions, pushing governments to make the super-rich pay their fair share. This tax money has the potential to fund the shift to renewable energy and improve public services for everyone.
In this first phase of the campaign, we connected the dots across the world – showing where the money is and what it could pay for. In France, we organized a back-to-school action in front of the National Assembly in September 2024, to celebrate the start of the new parliamentary term. Activists set up an outdoor classroom to give politicians their “first lesson” on how to pay for the clean energy transition.
In Germany, we built relationships with housing groups, and joined their call for warm and affordable homes; we helped organize a protest for housing rights, supporting them with media outreach, and launching a petition.