FRANCE Law and Practice Contributed by: Damien Luqué, Martin Jarrige de la Sizeranne and Sacha Tartarin, Lacourte Raquin Tatar
• an extraordinary level of public financial sup - port is required; or • the amount of its assets is lower than the amount of its liabilities. The ACPR can apply a combination of resolution tools to restore the viability of the relevant credit institution or transfer part or whole of the credit institution’s business to another institution. Such tools include: • a bail-in of the capital instruments and eligible liabilities (“bail-in”); • a transfer of the credit institution’s business to a buyer (“sale of business”); • a transfer of impaired assets (eg, non- performing loans) to an asset management vehicle (“asset separation”); and • a transfer of suitable parts of the credit institution’s business to a temporary entity (“bridge institution”) pending acquisition by a third-party. On 12 December 2015, the Paris Agreement signed at COP21 established the first legally binding international treaty on climate change. In particular, it affirms the importance of aligning financial flows with a development profile that is low in greenhouse gas emissions and resilient to climate change, which implies the active par - ticipation of credit institutions in this common effort. National Requirements In France, Paris Agreement’s objectives were implemented by Law No 2015-992 of 17 August 2015 on energy transition for green growth, 9. ESG 9.1 ESG Requirements
which contains provisions regarding the financ - ing of the energy transition. The Law No 2019-1147 of 8 November 2019 on energy and climate requires each credit insti - tution to make publicly available a document setting out their policy for integrating environ - mental, social and governance criteria into their investment strategy, as well as the resources, means and strategy to contribute to the energy transition. More generally, the Law No 2019-486 of 22 May 2019 on the growth and transformation of com - panies (the Plan d’Action pour la Croissance et la Transformation des Entreprises – the “PACTE Law”) amended Article 1833 of the French Civil Code regarding corporate interest by adding the following provision: “[The company is managed in its corporate interest] while taking into con - sideration the social and environmental issues related to its activity”. The PACTE Law also supplemented Article 1835 of the French Civil Code on companies’ by-laws by adding the following provision: “The by-laws may specify a “raison d’être” (a rationale of existence), which is composed of the princi - ples adopted by the company and for which the company will allocate resources in the conduct of its business”. When a company specifies in its by-laws a rai - son d’être, along with social and environmental objectives, and implements means to monitor the achievement of such objectives, it can be recognised as a “ société à mission ” (company with a mission). Several leading French credit institutions have adopted this société à mission status.
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