Corporate social and environmental responsibility

A CSR strategy based on four pillars

The Banque de France was one of the first public institutions in France to adopt a Corporate Social and Environmental Responsibility (CSR) approach for its operational activities, as a natural extension of its core missions as a central bank and supervisor. Since 2026, the Banque de France’s CSR policy has been built around four priorities: 

1. Acting for our environment
2. Acting for our staff
3. Acting through corporate philanthropy
4. Acting through our financial investments and procurement.
    

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• CSR policy
• Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Charter
• Workplace Gender Equality Index
• Responsible Procurement Charter 

Acting for our environment

We have been working to reduce our environmental footprint since 2008. Building on this, we are also committed to:

• reducing our impact on the climate
• reducing our impacts and risks linked to nature degradation

We encourage staff to get involved, especially in developing projects that reduce our environmental footprint. We run internal innovation challenges and intrapreneurial initiatives to help bring their ideas to life. 

Our commitment to reducing our impact on the climate

The Banque de France is committed to making further progress in mitigating its climate impact. After meeting its 2025 target for reducing its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, it has now structured its transition plan around three scopes that cover its operational activities more comprehensively. It has set itself the following targets for 2028, calculated relative to 2019, which is the reference year for our decarbonisation plan:    

• Tertiary activities¹ (excluding purchases): reduce GHG emissions by 40% (-34% in 2025)
• Tertiary purchases: identify key suppliers committed to a decarbonisation plan
• Industrial activities (including purchases): reduce the carbon intensity of banknotes by 25% (-5% in 2025)

These targets are inspired by the Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi) methodology. The target set for tertiary activities is aligned with the goals of the Paris Agreement, which aims to limit the global temperature rise to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. 

¹ “Tertiary activities” covers energy use, direct fugitive emissions, business travel, employee commuting, waste, freight and capital goods. 

Our commitment to reduce our impacts and risks linked to nature degradation

In 2023, the Banque de France analysed the dependency of its activities on ecosystem services using the ENCORE database. The study identified a direct dependency on water resources, particularly in the production of banknote paper. In 2025, the Banque de France carried out an assessment of water-related challenges across all its industrial and tertiary assets. Based on the findings, it is developing a policy on sustainable water use to:

• improve how it manages this resource
• prevent health and pollution risks
• make its industrial and tertiary activities more resilient to water-related climate hazards

Acting for our staff

Building on our commitments, we are continuing to take action to:

• foster diversity within our workforce
• guarantee equal treatment for all

Our commitment to equality and diversity

Our previous workplace equality goal was to achieve a 40% rate of female professional and higher grade staff in managerial roles throughout the 2024-27 period. Although close to this target, the figure of 38.8% recorded at the end of 2025 served as a wake-up call for the Banque de France, prompting the adoption of a target of “at least 40%” for each year.

We are also committed to keeping the share of disabled staff in our workforce at a minimum of 6%. In 2025, the figure achieved was 7.6%, representing over 550 employees.

Our actions to improve employability and create a balanced working environment

The skills needed to carry out our activities are evolving. To address this, we have negotiated a career management agreement with our social partners and signed a company-wide training and skills development agreement that goes beyond statutory requirements.

To improve the working environment, we have implemented agreements to support remote working and foster a better work-life balance. 

Signature of the Corporate Parenthood Charter

Acting through corporate philanthropy

Acting through corporate philanthropy

We have set ourselves two main objectives in our 2028 CSR policy:

• roll out our corporate philanthropy strategy
• get staff involved in corporate philanthropy

To achieve this, the Banque de France aims to spend at least €3 million per year on corporate philanthropy and devote 80% of this budget to actions involving staff.

The Banque de France views its philanthropic activities as a lever for positive impact, supporting non-profit organisations and foundations that serve the public interest. 

It focuses on the following main causes:

• the social and economic inclusion of vulnerable populations in France
• the ecological transition
• promoting cultural heritage linked to the Banque de France and prominent figures in its history, as well as to the economic and monetary history of France.

Different types of support 

The Banque de France’s corporate philanthropy takes various forms:

• Financial philanthropy, at national and regional level, to support projects with a significant local impact
• Skills sponsorship, where staff volunteer their time for a charitable cause during normal working hours
  o  up to 5 days a year for short-term projects
  o  specialist secondments of 4 to 6 months during an individual’s career
  o  pre-retirement sponsorship for periods of up to 2 years
• In-kind and industrial sponsorship, involving donations of goods and furniture, loans of premises or the conduct of specific operations such as the annual Pièces Jaunes fundraising campaign. In the latter case, the Banque de France lends its cash management expertise to the campaign by sorting, counting and processing millions of coins.

Getting staff involved

Employee engagement is a cornerstone of our corporate philanthropy policy. The Banque de France encourages staff to play an active role in charitable projects that are aligned with its priorities.

As well as volunteering their skills and donating to financial philanthropy projects, staff can take part in various events throughout the year.

These initiatives are a chance for staff to get involved and contribute collectively to projects that make a real impact.

Acting through our financial investments and procurement

We aim to lead by example in our investments and procurement, and seek to involve all staff and directorates in our approach. Our objectives are to:

• implement our scheme for the promotion of socially and environmentally responsible purchases (SPASER)
• implement our responsible investment policy

A responsible financial investor

In financial investment, we are strengthening our responsible investment (RI) policy for our own funds and pension liabilities portfolios, which are managed exclusively by the Banque de France. 

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A responsible buyer

We are also continuing to apply our responsible procurement policy, built around several key initiatives. We have strengthened our supplier relationships by encouraging more than 600 companies to sign our Responsible Procurement Charter, under which they commit to adopting responsible practices, particularly for the environment. 

Scheme for the promotion of socially and environmentally responsible purchases (SPASER)

In 2025, the Banque de France continued to implement its 2024-26 SPASER (scheme for the promotion of socially and environmentally responsible purchases). The measures implemented during the year were presented in a report published in spring 2026 (see box below). Building on this work, the Banque de France began preparing its next SPASER, which will cover the 2027-28 period.

In 2025, the Banque de France included a CSR clause in 94.5% of its public tender contracts (excluding banknote manufacturing). This involved, for example, incorporating environmental performance criteria into the contract award process, and including social clauses in certain contracts to support the employment of people with disabilities and those facing barriers to the labour market. In addition, in 2025 the Banque de France signed the Responsible Supplier Relations and Procurement (RFAR) Charter with a view to obtaining the RFAR label.

THE 2024-26 SPASER

The 2024-26 SPASER focused on incorporating environmental criteria into our public tender contracts and increasing our use of products from the circular economy. A report was recently published showing the results of the SPASER at the end of 2025.

The year 2025 marked a new stage in the implementation of the Banque de France's SPASER. The 2025 SPASER indicators confirm the positive progress made by the Banque de France in responsible procurement and demonstrate the growing maturity of its practices:

• Greater integration of environmental performance criteria into procurement procedures, with increased consideration of climate and environmental issues in bid evaluations and the gradual strengthening of environmental requirements in tender specifications. In 2025, 34% of contracts included an environmental performance criterion, compared with a target of 20%.
   
• A sustained social commitment through employment integration programmes. The volume of employment integration hours generated through procurement contracts increased from 930 hours in 2024 to 1,743 hours in 2025. This positive trend reflects both the growing use of social clauses in eligible contracts and the engagement of operational teams and contract sponsors. In addition, all procurement notices include a reminder of legal obligations relating to non-discrimination in the workplace.
   
• Prompt payment practices in support of responsible supplier relationships. In 2025, the Banque de France's average supplier payment time was 7 days, compared with the statutory standard of 30 days. These results confirm a high level of performance, consistent with the Bank's commitments regarding supplier relations. Prompt payment is both an important means of supporting SMEs and VSEs, which are particularly sensitive to cash-flow constraints, and a cornerstone of a responsible supplier relationship policy.

The Banque de France will soon publish a new SPASER for 2027-28.

Factoring extra-financial criteria into our project engagement and follow-up

We have taken the innovative step of incorporating extra-financial criteria into our internal investments (IT projects, real estate and industrial investments). Extra-financial analysis is now a key part of our governance process for operational investments, in addition to the financial analysis approach.

The approach offers several benefits:

• It ensures investment decisions are consistent with the Banque de France’s business strategy and CSR.
• It provides tangible, measurable data on environmental performance and user satisfaction, which can be taken into account in decision-making.
• It allows project managers to actively contribute to the Banque de France’s strategy.