In this issue

Welcome to Leasing Life’s quarterly e-magazine for asset finance and leasing professionals in the UK and Continental Europe.

This edition appears as policymakers from around the world gather for the COP26 UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow and a good number of our articles are focused on COP26 themes, including our main feature which considers the progress bank asset financiers are making to meet the Paris Agreement targets.

We’ve distilled the findings from Banking on Climate Chaos 2021, a report produced by the NGO Rainforest Action Network to reveal what it says about French bank lessors – BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole, Société Générale, Groupe BPCE and Credit Mutuel.

Why French banks? Their relative strength within the European banking family is one reason, the second is the high brand recognition and visibility of its leasing divisions.

The statistics cited bring into question the relationship between the banking parent and its equipment leasing subsidiary, and to the extent that the parent continues to be significantly investing in fossil fuels: what role exists for leasing executives to speak up?