Positive Impact needs Creative Finance | Jean-Laurent Bonnafé

So, to put it simply, when you're a bank operating in 80 countries, you see a number of issues rising very strongly: climate, inequalities, territories—the balance of growth between countries and within countries, regions, and cities. There's a growing unease because even as the global economy progresses, the gaps keep widening. So the question we must ask—and I think this is the ideal place to ask it—is how to use all the technological means arriving in enormous quantities to create more balanced development that addresses these problems. The positive point is that all actors are becoming aware. For us, if I look back five years, our emotional perception is completely different from today. It's not about tricks; it's about the encounters we have, the problems brought to us by our counterparts and clients. We see these issues rising, see the need growing, and we quickly adopted the UN's sustainable development principles. But more importantly, we recently reorganized—just over a year ago—to give direction to a company with 200,000 employees, a balance sheet in the trillions, a presence in many countries, and handling many technologies. We weren't organized to leverage that in the right direction. There were many local initiatives of good intent but no strategic construction on all these topics. So a year ago we created a Corporate Engagement department dedicated to our commitment to civil society. Four key elements: energy transition, youth, territorial development—all to help contribute through what we do directly, especially in our daily actions with clients, to lend a hand to those moving in the right direction for a positive economy. When we think about the digital economy born 30 years ago, it came from generous people who wanted to bring technology to everyone. But 30 years later, we realize that initial project hasn't fully materialized; it feels like the benefits have concentrated in fewer hands rather than being shared. I believe that now it's very important—for states, governments, businesses, entrepreneurs, and the associative world—that technologies must be used so that no one is left behind. Often when an innovation appears, it's quickly adopted by some but also creates high exclusion rates. So we need to create a universe where technological innovation and the values of the solidarity economy are always considered in parallel, feeding each other. That's crucial, and it happens through coalitions. Coalitions are the solution because they bring together actors who until now didn't meet enough. Our bank, now embracing this strategy of positive contribution, has joined this dance and is delivering projects we're extremely proud of. Recently, one in Indonesia and one in India aim to establish sustainable agriculture. In India, in Andhra Pradesh, a state of 50 million people whose land has been devastated by pesticides and fertilizers, the goal is to transition to sustainable agriculture by 2025. Relatively simple techniques exist, but the scale requires huge capital. This coalition approach—bringing together investors providing financing, government agencies offering guarantees, NGOs and UN agencies verifying project integrity—allows us to raise substantial funds. We're talking about 2 billion to address issues affecting 50 million people. No single bank or company can handle such financing alone. By joining together, we see that this coalition approach can concretely deliver projects. Greentech, civic tech, social business—these vocabularies have become reference points in this emerging entrepreneurial universe. It's a new entrepreneurship that combines innovation and social impact, not necessarily measured by return on equity but by the quantity of services on issues societies currently can't solve. Success will be measured by our ability to track project progress. I'd like to cite some partners we're working with: Article 1, which many of you know, fights daily for equal opportunity—where orientation, success, and professional integration don't depend on social, economic, or cultural origins. That's an old idea, but 40 years later the gap has widened insidiously but visibly. Without actors like Article 1—new forms of enterprises—these issues are unlikely to be resolved because the state's hand is often not fine enough, and traditional companies don't naturally tackle them. Another is Qarnot Computing, which works on energy efficiency by reusing the heat from high-performance computing. This is a contribution to the energy transition: instead of losing energy, you invest it wisely, close to the ground. These aren't necessarily very large companies; the advantage is these approaches are infinitely replicable in many environments. We also have a partner like Phoenix, which helps clients transition to the circular economy, reducing waste by valorizing waste. There are many other actors. This is all "tech for good"—the idea that technology must do good. That's important because technology alone doesn't spread enough. The global digital project born 30 years ago was brilliant and generous, but 30 years later it hasn't produced what it could have if we had asked ourselves daily how it benefits everyone. So our bank carries this strategy in these domains: positive social impact in a constructive, strategic way. We're no longer just looking at return on equity, client numbers, or product counts; we're federating our banking and economic action around the "adec" label of strong impact—deploying it in our teams so everyone embraces this dimension. In the regions, we help entrepreneurs locally transform our society step by step, solving problems of general interest. Today in France, we finance one in four social entrepreneurs. That proportion is significant because five years ago we were far from that, simply because we hadn't recognized the problem. It's gratifying that a company with a long history—celebrating its bicentennial in four years—can be so modern and reinvent itself around this new dimension, joining all these efforts blossoming everywhere. What we do in France we also do in Asia, Africa, the Americas—we're present in 80 countries, and often ideas come from the other side of the world. The project I mentioned in India wasn't created here in Paris; it came directly from our colleagues in Hong Kong who understood their region better. So BNP Paribas wants to be a partner to these new solutions, carrying innovative and inclusive technology—where everyone can seize it for material and immaterial benefit. All the ideas represented here are generous: if they succeed, they can reduce inequalities, foster sustainable development in emerging countries, strengthen the solidarity economy, and extend solidarity between generations. We see gaps building between age groups, sometimes even within families making communication difficult. All your ideas interest us, and if we can help you realize them, don't hesitate to come see us. We'll try to lend a hand. Thank you.