“Finance holds the keys to our future”

For twelve years, you have been acting with banks, insurers, investors to divert them from the financing of hydrocarbons. Why did you choose this fight?

The founding experience lies in my two years spent in South Africa. They showed me how much everything is linked between social, economic and environmental justice. I arrived in 2006, well after the end of apartheid. The majority of the population still did not have access to fundamental goods, while a minority was enriched with coal. In very precarious slums located on old mines, I saw children suffering from burns, because the site had not been closed correctly. I then campaigned in the youth branch of the old (African National Congress, Nelson Mandela’s party, editor’s note) while continuing my political science studies.

At the time, you were not strictly speaking a climate activist …

No, but I had ecology in me, a little by the strength of things. My father was a postman and my mother educator of young children. Our family had few means. In summer, we were going to a farm campsite, in the Pyrenees, for an unbeatable price: five euros per day for five people. There, I spent hours in the wild, that my parents taught me to respect from an early age.

What role does the financial sector play in climate change?

About 80 % of greenhouse gases come from fossil fuels: coal, oil, gas. However, no new extraction project can develop without a whole set of funding and insurance. And companies are unable to maintain existing installations without benefiting from a panoply of financial services. The decisions made today in offices are those that will shape the world of tomorrow.

Even the International Energy Agency has said this since 2021: the only way to stop the worsening climate change is to stop supporting new fossil extraction projects immediately. It is now that we must weigh on investment orientations. Finance holds the keys to our future. We must not leave it to the experts on the pretext that this is a technical subject. This is why I created in 2020 the Reclaim Finance association, whose name means: “reappropriate finance”.

Why did you take an interest in coal, the heart of the fight that earned you international recognition in 2020 with the Goldman for the Environment Prize?

In 2013, when I was hired by the friends of the earth, I inherited a campaign which aimed to push the French banking sector – the fourth in the world – to put an end to the financing of polluting sites and imposed on the populations. A partner then contacted me about Alpha Coal, an XXL coal mine project located in Australia, in the Galileo basin. His financial assembly was provided by Société Générale. In addition to the very significant CO2 emissions, all kinds of pollution threatened the inhabitants. We were less than two years old from COP21, the kind of event where companies should show “green paw”. With other NGOs, we told ourselves that there was the opportunity to win a battle. We were talking about a French bank of which everyone can be a customer … It became much more concrete for people.

And you had the project canceled …

Yes, after a year and a half of a campaign alternating dialogue and denunciation, Société Générale withdrew its support. It was the first time in the world that a bank has been acting for climatic reasons. This victory served as a lever to others. My goal was to obtain the promise of Société Générale, BNP Paribas and Crédit Agricole not to support the expansion of coal in all of this still preserved Australian basin, where other projects were on the table. I sent them a letter by giving them three months to commit proactively. Otherwise, they “won” a denunciation campaign for COP21 which was to be held in 2015 … The Alpha Coal case had had such a repercussions in the banking environment that they retired in turn. And to date, the Galileo basin is still intact.

During the four years which followed, in fact, the largest French banks and then major insurers have given up funding both mines and coal -fired power plants. What is your method?

I am trying to define realistic, but also ambitious objectives, insofar as a victory will allow me to seek something more important behind. Then I work in a dialogue with my “target” – the organization to convince, by providing solid information to justify my request. Large companies are not monolithic blocks but very political places, where people must be found internally with whom alliance. It happened that my interlocutor tells me that it was not the time … and reminds me a few weeks later to let go: “We go!” I’m not here to launch anathemas. What interests me is being effective and changing the financial institutions step by step.

You have studied in a renowned private establishment, near Angers, the Albert-le-Grand Institute (1). Has this step counted?

I come from a modest and protest environment: my father was a strike pillar at La Poste. I was curious to meet people different from me, hence the choice of this establishment. I learned to debate with very conservative people, anchored to the right, even to the far right. I strengthened my own convictions, located opposite, while learning their codes, their references. It served me well later for my appointments in the banks, where I always arrive well dressed!

Are your victories against coal possible today? A new type of climate-skepticism has emerged…

From COP21 to 2022, a consensus reigned within the financial sector on its responsibility in the global warming. Its actors had an interest in appearing as acting. And a reputational risk to do nothing. Since 2022, this approach has been called into question. We feel that the climate has become less “seller” for banks, due to the evolution of society. Today, the central question within Reclaim Finance is how to recreate this risk of image for banks. Perhaps by speaking less CO2 and more damage to the health of millions of people caused by fossil fuels? Or by explaining what is written in advance: the main leaders of climate change, namely companies and funders of fossil fuels, are not those who will pay for its consequences, but each of us.

What gives you the strength to continue to act?

My anger against injustices. I refuse that certain decisions be made, I feel obliged to act. I want to believe that our humanity has the ability to change the world. Otherwise, it’s horrible! In my discourse to receive the Goldman Prize (2), I denounced a culture of defeat, especially in the militant environment, where some are delighted in failure. Because it confirms their vision of the world. My dynamism also comes from teamwork, from a collective power in action. It must be said: it’s happy to act!

(1) It is now part of IRCOM.

(2) to read on the Reclaim France website.