Caisse des Dépôts (CDC) will stop providing new debt financing to oil producers, with an exception for eligible green and sustainable bonds, under its updated climate policy.
The restriction will apply to companies such as TotalEnergies from January 2027. The policy specifies non-renewal of corporate bonds.
The previous percentage-based limit allowed investment to rise as the portfolio grew, whereas the revised policy introduces an absolute ceiling.
A CDC spokesperson told IPE it will freeze its total exposure to oil producers, covering shares and bonds, with an exception for green bonds, and will therefore not expand investments in the sector.
CDC, which managed €320bn in total assets at the end of 2025, confirmed that its three key motivations behind the policy update include:
- ensuring consistency with the objective of carbon neutrality by 2050 for its activities, particularly its corporate equity and bond portfolios, by capping overall exposure to companies pursuing new oil exploration;
- to move closer to the SBTi recommendations on fossil fuel financing;
- maintain consistency with the commitments of its subsidiaries acting as asset owners or asset managers, and those of the public institution.
However, Reclaim Finance has called on European investors to follow CDC’s example, while expressing concern that the updated policy leaves companies expanding liquefied natural gas (LNG) infrastructure and gas-fired power outside the new restrictions and does not specifically address fossil gas.
In a statement, Reclaim Finance called on CDC to “recognise the major climate challenges associated with fossil gas expansion and extend its commitments across the entire value chain, including LNG terminals and new gas-fired power plants”.
TotalEnergies and LNG
Reclaim Finance pointed to the significance of the move, with CDC holding €9.8bn in assets in companies operating in the fossil fuel sector at the end of 2025.
Last year, Reclaim Finance and a group of NGOs called on asset owners to stop managers backing fossil fuel expansion, amid wider pressure on fossil fuel majors’ LNG growth plans.
Agathe Masson, sustainable investments campaigner at Reclaim Finance, said: “Caisse des Dépôts is taking a major step forward by ending new debt investments in some fossil fuel companies.”
Masson stressed that the decision comes as civil society is increasingly calling out the use of France’s regulated, tax-free Livret A savings accounts to finance companies like TotalEnergies.
She added that the measure only partly addresses their concerns, as it fails to include specific action regarding fossil gas.
“For example, there is nothing preventing Caisse des Dépôts from continuing to finance companies developing new gas transportation infrastructure, particularly liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals, such as ENGIE,” Masson noted.
Separately this week, activist group Follow This said TotalEnergies’ growth in oil and gas contradicts its energy transition claim.
“We credit TotalEnergies for staying the course where BP and Shell backtracked. However, it is easy to be the leader in a field of laggards,” said Tarek Bouhouch at Follow This.
“If you grow your oil and gas business and more than 80% of your investments go to fossil fuels, you can’t claim to be in transition. For a serious transition, you need to invest more in new business than in legacy business, and not grow old business,” said Bouhouch.
