Largest French public asset owner, Caisse des Dépôts, is failing on climate #FrenchFinance

Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations (CDC), the largest public asset owner in France and the fifth largest in Europe [1]was managing 323 billion euros in financial assets at the end of 2024, including a large proportion of French people’s savings. CDC presents itself as a responsible investor, but it is largely failing in its climate responsibility. CDC is opaque about its climate practices, and continues to invest in companies that are developing new fossil fuel projects, contradicting the scientific recommendations. Furthermore, at a time when several European asset owners are beginning to exclude external asset managers on climate grounds, CDC doesn’t consider robust climate criteria to select and engage its external managers. Reclaim Finance calls on Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations to improve its transparency and climate commitments.

Under the terms of French law, CDC is a long-term public investor serving the general interest, with a mission to contribute to sustainable development. Most of its financial assets (around 73%) come from regulated savings accounts, the deposits of which are partly centralised by CDC, managed within the framework of a ‘Savings Fund’ [2]and partly invested on the financial markets. Because of its unique status, CDC has a significant impact on the economy and the energy transition.

Reclaim Finance’s report analyzes CDC’s climate commitments regarding its asset management activities, and whether it is transparent about these activities. This article summarizes its findings.

CDC does not publish the list of companies held in its equity and fixed income portfolios, or its proxy voting records for companies in which it is a shareholder. Nor does the public investor publish a complete and up-to-date list of its external asset managers. The failure to disclose this information prevents a robust assessment of the credibility and effectiveness of the financial institution’s climate action. Even the French Cour des Comptes (the Audit Court), the supreme body for auditing the use of public funds in France, recommends that CDC increases its transparency to improve accountability and ensure that its climate action is credible [3].

As a public institution, CDC is accountable to the public for its practices. A number of other major European public asset owners, such as the Norwegian sovereign wealth fund (through its manager NBIM), the Swedish pension fund AP7 and the Dutch pension fund ABP, are more transparent than CDC.

* NEST and ABP publish the list of their main external asset managers.

According to data published in its reporting, CDC holds nearly 10 billion euros in companies active in fossil fuels [6]. This is one of the few pieces of information published by CDC about its fossil fuel investments, but it does not allow us to isolate investments in companies that are continuing to expand their fossil fuel production, or recent investments that help to finance fossil fuel expansion directly, such as bond purchases.

While CDC has made commitments to reduce its support to companies developing new thermal coal projects, it has yet to make a similar commitment for companies developing new upstream and midstream oil and gas projects, which are incompatible with a credible 1.5°C trajectory. Moreover, CDC hasn’t adopted a robust shareholder engagement and voting strategy to encourage these companies to adopt a credible climate plan. Yet, a growing number of financial institutions have reduced their support to these companies [7]. Although CDC has taken other measures applying to the oil and gas sector [8]these commitments are still not aligned with scientific recommendations. In particular, CDC can still make new investments in companies with climate-wrecking strategies, such as TotalEnergies or Shell, using the savings of the French people.

By delegating the management of 3% of its assets to external asset managers, i.e. around 10 billion euros, CDC is also entrusting them with the management of the climate-related risks and impacts of delegated portfolios. Even though CDC requires them to invest according to its rules, the overall practices of these managers are often at odds with CDC’s climate objectives, which it claims to be aiming for a 1.5°C target. Most asset managers continue to support companies developing new fossil fuel projectsincluding thermal coal in which CDC has itself stopped investing in.

Unlike CDC, several European asset owners are beginning to exclude external asset managers on climate grounds, or to make public statements urging them to improve their climate practices. In early 2025, The People’s Pension and Akademiker Pension withdrew assets from State Street because of its weak ESG commitments. These asset owners send a strong signal to the market about the need to consider climate risks in investment practices. It also demonstrates the growing awareness among long-term asset owners of the gap between their interests and those of managers seeking short-term performance.

By failing to consider robust climate criteria when selecting its external managers, and by failing to engage an effective dialogue with them to encourage them to improve their climate practices, CDC runs the risk of working with managers which exacerbate climate change, like BlackRock.

Reclaim Finance is calling on CDC to strengthen its climate commitments in line with scientific recommendations. This requires adopting investment restrictions and strong voting practices for companies pursuing fossil fuel expansion. The financial institution must also improve its climate measures for selecting and engaging its external asset managers. Finally, CDC must increase its transparency, by publishing the holdings of its investment portfolio, its proxy voting records and the full list of its external managers each year.