ACT Finance, the methodology for the financial sector

ADEME is delighted to officially announce that the financial sector has joined the list of sectors covered by the ACT methodologies after two years of development and testing. Financial institutions will now also be able to benefit from a tool for assessing their climate strategies in line with the Paris Climate Agreement.

Achieving the targets set by the Paris Agreement will only be possible with the involvement of financial players. Many banks, asset managers and institutional investors have already pledged to contribute. However, their commitments and strategies remain heterogeneous and are sometimes criticised. It is therefore necessary to be able to objectively assess a financial player’s contribution to achieving the Paris Agreement.

This is the aim of ACT Finance, which enables financial institutions to assess the strengths and weaknesses of their climate strategy, and what they need to build, develop and improve in order to have an impact. Because financial institutions have different positions and roles, two methodologies are available in practice, the first for banks and the second for investors (asset managers, institutional investors). The keystone of these methodologies is the assessment of the ability of financial players to identify which assets and companies in their portfolio are or are not in transition, a subject that is still new to them and on which decisive progress is expected in the coming years.

Initiated in 2022, ACT Finance was developed through the work of two working groups bringing together experts from each sector. In 2023, it was the subject of tests (see below) involving 25 financial institutions.

Please consult the finalised methodologies below or in the Methodology section. To find out more about ACT Finance, you can watch the presentation webinar broadcast on Thursday 20 June.

Replay Presentation

Finally, a training package will be available by the end of the year.

Useful links :

Methodologies

Road Tests