Excellence in Corporate Social Responsibility

Winner: BNP Paribas

CSR and SRI are major ongoing trends in the global asset management industry whereby institutions seek to make their investments more meaningful, whether their concerns be social and/or environmental. The social dimension of commodity business activity is, therefore, critical to the continued support of customers, employees/communities, and long term-investors – and so to their long-term success.

The issues of environmental and social responsibility have now been placed firmly on the agendas of the Boards of many commodity companies, increasingly being embedded into the core business strategy and reporting systems. Many commodity related business have set themselves the goal of mobilising their people and partners to integrate CSR as a core business asset in order to combine profitability and sustainability by making CSR a cornerstone of the way they operate (as witnessed by the increasing number of sustainability and CR managers within organisations).

“BNP Paribas’ commitment to CSR has been recognised and they are resounding winners in this category,” says Guy Isherwood, Awards Patron and Publisher of Commodities Now magazine.

“In the past year BNP Paribas has significantly reinforced its CSR commitment with the adhesion to key industry initiatives and coordination with rating agencies … aiming to go beyond corporate philanthropy and strive for increased sustainability in its direct activities,” Isherwood added.

– In October 2009 BNP Paribas was elected to the steering committee of the Equator Principles, an initiative launched to increase accountability and promote financial due diligence. This corresponded with the screening of 74 project finance transactions.

– In June 2010 BNP Paribas adopted the Climate Principles – a forerunner initiative in establishing a framework to manage the risks and opportunities of climate change.

– BNP Paribas Investment partners have received the certification of specialization in sustainable development by Novethic on three of its funds [Novethic, part of Caisse des Dépôts, is a research centre in France on Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)].

– In coordination with Sustainable Asset Management (SAM), the Dow Jones World Sustainability Index has continued to select BNP Paribas who are the only French bank to have been included without interruption since 2002.

The Award for Excellence in Corporate Social Responsibility 2010 was presented to Amine Bel Hadj Soulami, Global Head of Commodity Derivatives at BNP Paribas by Gyles Brandreth, celebrated British author, broadcaster, actor and former Conservative Member of Parliament.