BNP Paribas SA pledged to stop financing shale and oil sands projects, expanding earlier commitments in support of global efforts to tackle climate change... The company also won’t fund oil or gas projects in the Arctic region... BNP Paribas said it’s committed to bringing its financing and investment activities in line with international efforts to keep global warming below 2 degrees Celsius by the end of the century. Achieving that goal relies on reducing the world’s dependence on fossil fuels,  starting with energy from shale and oil sands, the bank said... Once a global leader in oil financing, BNP has withdrawn from funding coal mines and coal-fired power plants in recent years, along with other big European banks including Societe Generale SA, HSBC Holdings Plc and Credit Agricole SA.

“In concrete terms, these decisions mean that we will cease providing finance to a number of companies and organizations that are not making an effort to be part of the transition to a less greenhouse gas-emitting economy,” [Chief Executive Officer Jean-Laurent] Bonnafe elaborated in an article posted on his LinkedIn account. “Going forward, we will agree to finance only those energy sector companies that are pursuing a policy of diversifying their energy sources.”