Amundi Investment Solutions. You may not have heard of them, but they’re Europe’s largest asset manager and one of the ten biggest worldwide, handling more than two trillion dollars in assets.
The company claims to focus on green and responsible investments. But when we look closer at where the money actually goes, a very different picture emerges. So, how sustainable are Amundi’s so-called green funds?
Production: By Europod, in co-production with Sphera Network.
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Amundi Investment Solutions. You may not have heard of them, but they’re Europe’s largest asset manager and one of the ten biggest worldwide, handling more than two trillion dollars in assets. The company claims to focus on green and responsible investments. But when we look closer at where the money actually goes, a very different picture emerges. So, how sustainable are Amundi’s so-called green funds?
An investigation by IrpiMedia and Voxeurop has revealed that Amundi has quietly invested nearly one and a half billion euros in fossil fuel companies over the last two years. Not through openly labelled oil and gas funds, but through so-called “green” funds, the ones that are supposed to comply with Europe’s Environmental, Social and Governance standards, short for ESG.
The European Union created a system to make financial flows consistent with the Paris climate goals. Under the rules, funds are divided into three categories: Article 6, which doesn't bother with environmental factors; Article 8, the so-called “light green” funds that promote ESG characteristics; and Article 9, or “dark green” funds, which are supposed to have clear sustainability objectives.
But here’s the catch: Article 8 funds can still include fossil fuels. And when the EU tightened the rules for Article 9 funds last year, Amundi didn’t clean up its portfolio. Instead, it simply relabelled. Eleven of its funds had their names changed, in six cases the terms “Net Zero” or “ESG” were simply dropped. The money, however, kept flowing into oil and gas.
And we’re not talking about small change, TotalEnergies alone has received 438 million dollars from Amundi’s green funds. Shell got 145 million. Then came Repsol, Exxon Mobil, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial, and others. According to Carbon Tracker, none of these companies have climate strategies aligned with the Paris Agreement.
Now, on paper, Amundi is a champion of sustainable investing. On its website, the section on “responsible investment” appears right at the top. The company insists climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our time and urges clients to invest in its ESG funds to “make a difference.”
The reality is much less inspiring. At best, Amundi is bending the rules of sustainable finance. At worst, it’s misleading investors who genuinely believe their money is going to fight climate change when in fact it’s propping up oil giants still drilling in Brazil, Nigeria, or the North Sea.
The EU’s regulatory framework also shares some blame. By allowing fossil fuel companies to sit comfortably inside so-called green portfolios, Brussels creates a loophole wide enough to sail an oil tanker through. For European citizens that means trust in sustainable finance risks evaporating.
So how can practices like these be held to account?
The European Securities and Markets Authority, ESMA, has tried to tighten rules by forcing clearer labelling. But as the Amundi case shows, asset managers can simply change names without changing practices. And so far, there’s little evidence of serious penalties.
The bigger question is whether the EU is willing to confront the finance industry more directly. If the bloc is serious about reaching net zero by 2050, then loopholes that let billions flow into fossil fuels under a green label can’t remain. Otherwise, “sustainable finance” risks becoming just another piece of financial marketing, where fine words mask business as usual.
Evi Kiorri is a Brussels-based journalist, multimedia producer, and podcaster with deep experience in European affairs.
Evi Kiorri is a Brussels-based journalist, multimedia producer, and podcaster with deep experience in European affairs.