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Crédit Agricole CIB: Asia’s best bank for sustainable finance 2025
When major American banks began their exodus from climate commitments in 2024, Crédit Agricole CIB bucked the trend. The French institution claimed the top spot globally for green and sustainability-linked loan structuring, arranging $88.4 billion across 92 transactions. In Asia specifically, the bank ranked second for Hong Kong international sustainable bonds and held the number two position for Greater China sustainable issuances over the cumulative 2020 to 2024 period.
Crédit Agricole CEO Philippe Brassac publicly reaffirmed the bank’s membership in the Net-Zero Banking Alliance. The Asia team, led from Hong Kong by Antoine Rose, has doubled to 14 professionals since 2017, with 2024 additions including a new director in Japan and a dedicated ESG analytics team.
“In line with Crédit Agricole’s raison d’être ‘to work in the interest of clients and society’, Crédit Agricole CIB is committed to support its clients toward transitions and the development of sustainable finance,” explains Rose. “To support growth, in 2024, we added a new local sustainable banking team in Japan, launched new sustainable finance products, and explored new sustainable finance market sectors.”
The bank created the market’s first sustainability-linked loan financing bond framework with detailed disclosure of eligibility criteria. In July 2024, it proved the concept viable with a ¥3 billion ($20.6 million) inaugural issuance, establishing new transparency standards for the market.
Its ESG-linked deposit account, another industry first, gained remarkable traction across Asia. Twenty clients adopted the product across Hong Kong, Singapore, China and Japan by 2024, including blue-chip names like New World and MTR Corporation. The appeal was simple: companies could earn enhanced returns on their cash deposits by meeting sustainability targets, turning idle treasury balances into tools for ESG improvement.
"The bank created the market’s first sustainability-linked loan financing bond framework with detailed disclosure of eligibility criteria."
Crédit Agricole also tackled sectors others avoided. In aviation – historically one of the hardest sectors to decarbonise – the bank structured the world’s first sustainability-linked loan for an aircraft lessor with CDB Aviation in December 2023, followed by the first portfolio financing seven months later. It even arranged sustainable financing for spare aircraft engines – unprecedented in the industry.
The Bank of Communications Financial Leasing Company transaction in June 2024 demonstrated similar ambition. Working as green structuring adviser, Crédit Agricole helped develop the first framework in financial leasing to include dedicated categories for both aviation and shipping assets. The resulting $950 million green bond became the first offshore issuance from China’s leasing industry to comply with the Common Ground Taxonomy, earning Moody’s highest “Outstanding” rating.
The bank also championed transition finance for carbon-intensive industries. When Taiwan Cement sought to acquire lower-carbon European production facilities, Crédit Agricole structured innovative sustainability-linked bridge financing. This recognised a crucial reality: even heavy emitters need pathways to decarbonisation.
Consistency underpinned these innovations. Crédit Agricole has advised on all eight rounds of the Hong Kong government’s institutional green bond issuances since 2019, including the groundbreaking multi-currency digital bond issued in February 2024 – the largest ever issued by any government globally. Such long-term relationships build expertise that one-off mandates cannot match.
Regional integration provided the final edge. Rather than operating in silos, Crédit Agricole’s sustainable finance teams function as an interconnected network across Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo and mainland China. This connectivity proved decisive in complex cross-border transactions, positioning the bank at the centre of Asia’s sustainable finance evolution.
SOURCE: EUROMONEY
