The announcement follows the deal struck at the COP28 climate summit among representatives of nearly 200 countries, who agreed to begin reducing global consumption of fossil fuels to avert the worst of climate change.
Credit Agricole, which counts French oil major TotalEnergies (TTEF.PA) among its top clients, said it would cut financed carbon emissions tied to the oil and gas sectors by 75% by 2030, compared with a previously announced target of a 30% reduction.
"Even if the signal is a good one and is welcome, the methodology remains very incomplete, one could even say bad, in terms of claiming to be aligned with a target of limiting higher temperatures by 1.5 degrees Celsius," said Lucie Pinson from Reclaim Finance, commenting on Credit Agricole's plans.
More European banks are pledging to reduce their financing of fossil fuels, incentivised by new European rules that will shine a light on how green their businesses are and pressure from campaign groups and some shareholders. British banks NatWest and HSBC, and Dutch bank ING, are among those to have announced restrictions on such lending.
U.S. and Asian lenders, however, remain the far bigger backers of fossil fuels.
Barclays is the only European lender in the top ten financiers of fossil fuels between 2016 and 2022, with JPMorgan, Citi and Wells Fargo the three biggest, according to the NGO-authored Banking on Climate Chaos report.
Credit Agricole also said it would triple its annual financing of renewable energy projects by 2030 to 3 billion euros ($3.3 billion) from 1 billion euros currently.
It added it would hike by 80% its investment bank unit's exposure to low-carbon energies between 2020 and 2025, with the aim of reaching 13.3 billion euros.
Credit Agricole's new goals are part of the so-called "net zero 2050 scenario", under which the world aims to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by the middle of the century.
Environmental advocacy groups have criticised Credit Agricole for not doing enough to reduce its credit exposure to the oil and gas sectors, pressing the bank to increase transparency on these issues.
Credit Agricole said it would report its total exposure to existing fossil extraction projects in which it is still committed in the first quarter of 2024.
It added that, regarding its financing of energy companies, it would have no corporate financing of independent producers dedicated exclusively to the exploration or production of oil and gas.
"In a context of climate emergency, we need to amplify our commitment towards measures supporting the transformation of society," Chief Executive Philippe Brassac said.
($1 = 0.9176 euros)
