BNP Paribas staff given guide to answering thorny questions on fossil fuel funding
French bank BNP Paribas is increasingly under fire from climate activists over its financing of oil and gas companies. In face of the high-profile campaigns, it has issued an advice manual for its staff on how to respond to criticism of its activities at the “family meal” table, such as explaining to a “cousin worried about climate-warming” that the bank in fact supports ending mass fossil fuel extraction. Mediapart has obtained a copy of the guide, which adopts a light-hearted culinary theme, beginning with a chapter entitled ‘appetizer’. But, as Mickaël Correia reports, its questionable claims are so brazen that some might lose their appetite.
WhileWhile French oil and gas giant TotalEnergies earlier this year produced a pamphlet for its employees on how to present the group in a positive light at dinner-table discussions with family and friends, Mediapart can reveal that French banking group BNP Paribas has also taken the meal-time theme with a manual advising staff on how best to respond to relatives who are “sceptical” about its role in funding activities that are fuelling climate change.
