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Carbon Neutrality Plan - Principles and Objectives**

Objective :

Reduce the Group's total CO₂ emissions per occupant by 11% between 2008 and 2012 and achieve carbon neutrality.

Priorities for 2010 :

Improve and complete the collection of environmental data (quantity and quality),
Reduce the Group's yearly CO₂ emissions by 2%,
Oversee the Carbon Plans of each business line,
Offset the emissions of the Group's activities in France in 2010 and pass on the costs involved to its different business lines to ensure they take a more responsible approach.

Highlights in 2009 :

Validation of the target cuts in energy and paper consumption and travel for each business line,
Implementation of carbon reduction plans for each division,
Extension of the scope for the collection of environmental data to 99% of staff, which is an increase of 7% on 2007 (excluding Rosbank which is too recent an acquisition),
4.5% cut in CO₂ emissions per occupant between 2008 and 2009.

In approving its Carbon Neutrality Project in 2007, Société Générale committed to reducing the level of its CO2 emissions per occupant by 11% between 2007 and 2012 (same number of occupants), and to offsetting its residual emissions*.

The offsetting of residual emissions will be carried out progressively: the emissions linked to the Group's corporate center buildings were offset in 2008; emissions linked to its activities in France were offset in 2009, and emissions Group wide will be offset in 2010, 2011 and 2012. As a show of the commitment of its Executive Management, the cost of the first year of the voluntary offsetting of carbon emissions was covered by the Group. From 2009 onwards, each business line is required to cover their own costs which will be invoiced internally to encourage them to adopt a responsible approach (with the Group only covering the costs of its functional departments)*.

Steered by a strict plan of action to "Avoid – Offset – Reduce"

The Group's Carbon Neutrality Project is based around three core priorities

1. The reduction of the greenhouse gas emissions of each business line through :

The definition of action plans with reduction targets over several years which are specific to the Group's different business lines along with best practices for all construction work, travel, IT equipment and paper consumption,
The inclusion of target reductions of CO₂ emissions as a criteria when approving other Group projects as well as intermediate target reductions for energy and paper consumption and business travel,
Internal invoicing to ensure the different business lines manage their emissions more effectively,
The constant upgrading of reporting systems in order to improve the scope and reliability of the data collected,
A study into the feasibility of measuring the consumption of fluids in real time is underway as part of the Green-IT programme launched in 2009.

2. The offsetting of carbon emissions via the purchase of emission credits (notably through Group's subsidiary, orbeo) and the stronger involvement of the Group's entities and divisions in meeting their individual objectives,

3. Permanent communication initiatives as a means of increasing staff awareness of the importance of climate change and the carbon economy, in particular through the organisation of events in France and around the world ("Inform, Explain, Promote"), and as a means of promoting the most effective initiatives already in place ("Green electricity").

Société Générale Group has mobilised technical and human resources alike to ensure the success of its carbon plan, including :

A dedicated supervisory committee which regroups the Heads of Sustainable Development of several entities and divisions who are in charge of implementing the Group's plan and reporting on its concrete progress,
A Group wide Environment pilot team to coordinate the different initiatives and ensure that decision-makers and operational staff share the information they need,
A data collection tool, Planethic© Reporting, set up in 2005 to monitor the Group's consumption of energy, water and raw materials as well as the waste is generates. The scope (99% of the Group's payroll excluding Rosbank) and accuracy of the data collected is constantly improved, and is vital in order to accurately measure the Group's impact on the environment.

* verified by Ernst & Young
** in line with our Global Compact commitments