The European Central Bank has fined Crédit Agricole €7.5 million for failing to conduct required climate risk assessments by the May 31, 2024 deadline.
Fine for Delayed Climate Risk Assessment
The European Central Bank decided to impose periodic monetary fines on Crédit Agricole S.A. totaling €7,551,050. The reason was the failure to fulfill one of the key requirements of a supervisory decision from February 8, 2024, concerning the assessment of the significance of climate and environmental risks. The bank was required to strengthen the process of identifying these risks by May 31, 2024, which, according to the ECB, was not done to the required extent.
According to the supervisor, the violation lasted a total of 75 days in 2024. During this time, Crédit Agricole did not meet the requirement to assess whether and to what extent climate change and environmental factors could affect its risk profile.
How the European Central Bank Calculates Fines
The ECB emphasizes in its communication that the amount of periodic fines is not arbitrary. Three elements are taken into account when determining them: the weight of the violation, its duration, and the daily turnover of the supervised institution. Fines are calculated for each day of non-compliance and have a coercive rather than purely repressive character – their aim is to prompt the bank to implement supervisory decisions.
This is why the mechanism of periodic payments was applied rather than a one-time fine. In the ECB’s assessment, such a solution is most effective in enforcing changes in risk management practices.
European Central Bank Tightens Approach to Climate Obligations
The Crédit Agricole case fits into the process of the ECB tightening its approach to climate risks in the banking sector. The supervisor reminds that as early as 2020, it published a guide on climate and environmental risks, indicating how banks should identify, manage and disclose information about them. Two years later, a climate stress test and thematic review were conducted, which revealed numerous shortcomings in the preparation of financial institutions.
After these actions, all significant banks received individual adjustment schedules. Only when some of them failed to meet deadlines did the ECB turn to legally binding decisions and enforcement tools, including periodic monetary fines.
Fine for Credit Agricole. Possible Appeal to CJEU
This is the second climate sanction applied by the ECB to a supervised bank. The first central bank of the Union imposed on the Spanish bank ABANCA for failing to conduct an assessment of the significance of climate risks in November 2025.
The legal basis for imposing such sanctions is Article 18, paragraph 7 of Council Regulation No. 1024/2013, which entrusts the ECB with tasks in the field of prudential supervision over banks. Crédit Agricole may appeal the ECB’s decision to the Court of Justice of the European Union.
