Pegasus Guidelines: a first-of-its-kind voluntary reporting standard to support the decarbonization of the aviation sector
As an historical leading aviation bank, Societe Generale, together with independent nonprofit Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) and four other leading aviation banks, supported the development of the Pegasus Guidelines, a first-of-its-kind framework to enable banks to measure and disclose their aviation lending portfolios’ emissions in a consistent and comprehensive manner, and in compliance with Net zero Banking Alliance (NZBA).
Asserting the role of financial institutions in helping the aviation sector through decarbonation
The aviation industry contributes 2.5% of global CO2 emissions and is the fastest growing transportation sector. A whole range of solutions is identified to lead the industry through decarbonization and need to be developed, among which, furthering sustainable aviation fuels (SAF), hydrogen, battery-electric propulsion or modernizing the fleet. Financial institutions and airlines must work hand in hand to foster them, together with policymakers, customers, airports, fuel producers, and NGOs. This idea is at the heart of the Pegasus Guidelines, which have been launched on April 4th, 2024.
What are the Pegasus Guidelines?
Designed by RMI and developed in cooperation with Societe Generale, alongside four other leading global banks - BNP Paribas, Citi, Crédit Agricole CIB, and Standard Chartered, and throughout a broad and deep consultation with industry, experts, and additional financial institutions – the Pegasus Guidelines are the first climate-aligned finance framework for the aviation sector compatible with the Net-Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA) requirements.
They aim at helping banks independently measure and disclose the emissions intensity and/or climate alignment of their aviation lending portfolios compared to a 1.5°C scenario, thanks to a comprehensive, transparent and standardized methodology between banks.
What do they imply concretely?
The Pegasus Guidelines follow in the footsteps of other reference frameworks such as the ones dedicated to the steel industry (Sustainable Steel Principles), shipping (Poseidon Principles) and aluminium (Sustainable Aluminium Finance Framework).
For the financial institutions adopting them, the Pegasus Guidelines will provide a voluntary reporting standard to:
- perform a standardized assessment to calculate their portfolio emissions intensity and alignment with 1.5°C;
- use a consistent approach to accessing high-quality and credible data;
- disclose their aviation portfolio emissions intensity and/or alignment results annually for transparency, while keeping client information confidential.
→ Read the Societe Generale Press Release