Societe Generale’s presence in Copenhagen shows without any ambiguity that the banking sector is increasingly concerned by the impact of its activities on the environment. Our presence at the summit is part of the Group’s policy to make members of staff more aware of climate issues. Furthermore, the Bank is increasingly involved in the solution to climate change, as it is playing the role of an intermediary in the tools created by these negotiations, typically carbon markets and other tools that will be necessary to finance countries’ reductions and adaptation – the financing of technologies that are cleaner in terms of carbon, for example.

Within this context, what Societe Generale is hoping for from such a conference is that a clear and detailed agreement on the major issues is obtained. On the medium and long-term commitments of all countries, on the financing mechanisms (France is suggesting a tax on financial flows to fuel climate-change funds), on the tools that will be implemented in order to enable everyone to meet their commitments (quota market, changes in the clean development mechanism, transfer of technologies, the way forests are treated, etc.). There are many topics that could interest the Bank in one way or another.

Today, negotiations are having trouble making progress, because the aim of negotiators is to obtain coherent texts before world leaders arrive at the summit, where they will have to reach an agreement on two key points: the level of commitment and the financing structure. Once these points have been agreed upon, things will no doubt become easier.