• We aspire to contribute to an environmentally sound, socially inclusive and well-governed world. We strive to support our clients in accelerating their own transformation.

    Investor Resources on ESG

A message from our Management Board

Christian Sewing, CEO

"Sustainability is a critical success factor for our bank and a central element in our Global Hausbank strategy. We want to take advantage of the opportunities that are available to us in this area."

Christian Sewing, CEO

Jörg Eigendorf, CSO

"By being a frontrunner in ESG we will also be more attractive to investors in a fast-growing market. As a global universal bank deeply rooted in Europe, we see ourselves ideally positioned for this fast evolving environment."

Jörg Eigendorf, CSO

Rebecca Short, Group COO

"To drive a successful transformation, we need to bring teams together and leverage different perspectives. We have found that encouraging diverse views and respectful challenge make our teams more effective. This is one reason why we value diversity, equity and inclusion."

Rebecca Short, Group COO


Our Commitment

Our world needs change, and it needs it now. This will take leadership, partnership, and finance. We are playing our part to make it happen.

  • Environment

    A core part of Deutsche Bank’s sustainability strategy is our commitment to act as a reliable partner in financing and advising clients on the path toward the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.

    Deutsche Bank will deploy three principal levers to decarbonise by:

    • providing transition financing
    • rebalancing our loan portfolio towards clients focused on developing decarbonisation plans
    • reducing exposure to clients with limited capacity or willingness to decarbonize

    Find more about our path towards net zero emissions

    Moreover, another of our most important environmental commitments is for our operations and business travel to remain – as they have been since 2012 – carbon-neutral. We achieve this by consuming less energy, traveling less, and purchasing more renewable electricity, and by offsetting our remaining Scope 1 and 2 emissions as well as those associated with our business travel.

  • Social

    Our corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives contribute to the bank’s stated purpose of enabling economic growth and societal progress. They are how we make a positive impact for people and communities.

    The strategic focus of our social engagement is on education, enterprise, and community. We encourage our employees to contribute their professional expertise and life skills. We aim to maximize the impact of our CSR activities by engaging our stakeholders, forging long-term partnerships with charities, supporting advocacy initiatives, and working with other companies and organizations to promote impact monitoring.

    All of our CSR activities help build trust, deepen employee commitment and client loyalty, and enhance our reputation as a socially minded enabler, reliable partner, and catalyst for societal change.

    Find more about our corporate social responsibility programs

    Empowering and and supporting our employees is an integral part of our HR strategy. We promote a speak-up culture where our people can be heard and turn ideas into impact. We want all individuals to feel welcomed, accepted, respected, and supported. Our leaders strive to empower their teams to contribute their best work.

    Find out more about our HR strategy

  • Governance

    The transition to a sustainable and carbon-neutral economy will create opportunities. Simultaneously, we must scrutinize our business activities and our operations for potential negative impacts and understand the environmental and social risks involved. Systematic evaluation of these risks is an integral part of our risk management processes.

    This also covers reviewing our business activities under Deutsche Bank’s Environmental and Social (ES) Policy Framework and our Sustainable Finance Framework.

    Our Sustainable Finance Framework, established in 2020, outlines the methodology and associated procedures for classifying financial products and services offered by Deutsche Bank as sustainable financing and investments. The framework serves as a basis for informed decisions on sustainable products and services.

    Our Sustainability governance helps us to manage, measure, and control our sustainability activities across the bank. The most senior forum is the Group Sustainability Committee that focuses on adjustments to ESG metrics, transition dialog with clients, and deep dives on the bank’s sustainability targets, ambition level, and key milestones. In September 2022, we established the role of Chief Sustainability Officer to bolsters sustainability activities.

Our selected Goals & Progress

Show content of Provide cumulative €500bn of sustainable financing and investment volumes by 2025

  • Achieve cumulative sustainable financing and investment volumes since January 2020 of over € 200 billion by the end of 2022 and a cumulative € 500 billion by the end of 2025 (excluding DWS).
  • In 2022, Deutsche Bank achieved a cumulative sustainable financing and investments volume of € 215 billion (excluding DWS), thus outperforming its target of at least € 200 billion by year end 2022.

Show content of Exit financing and capital market transactions in thermal coal mining by 2025

  • We also pledged to no longer finance new oil and gas projects in the Arctic or oil sand projects. More information on this is provided in chapter “Environmental and social due diligence – Environmental and social policy framework” in our Non-Financial Report 2022
  • Our exposure to thermal coal mining declined to € 231 million at year-end 2022

Show content of Disclosure of targets and pathways for the alignment of our portfolio to the objectives of the Paris Agreement and Net-Zero Commitments by 2023

  • In October 2022, Deutsche Bank announced net zero aligned targets for 2030 and 2050 for four carbon-intensive sectors, including the Oil & Gas sector and Power Generation. The bank aims at reducing its financed emissions in the Oil and Gas sector by 23 % by 2030 and 90 % by 2050. Financed emissions from Power Generation will be reduced by 69 % by 2030 and 100 % by 2050. The bank also reaffirms its commitment to align its credit and investment porfolios to the goals of the Paris Agreement.
  • During 2021 we have developed a methodology for Net Zero targets and currently have ongoing client engagement activities on the management of Climate Risk and their transition / decarbonization plans

Show content of Increase gender diversity in leadership roles “35% by 2025”

  • More female leadership: 35 percent of Managing Director, Director and Vice President positions are to be represented by women by 2025 and at least 30% women in management positions one and two levels below the Management Board. Read how we advance women in leadership positions
  • By year end 2022, we have achieved 33.1% female Vice Presidents (VPs), 26.4% female Directors (Ds), 22.1% female Manager Directors (MDs) and 17.1%, 29.6% women at first and second management level (respectively) below the Management Board
  • Further aspirational goals on race and ethnicity

Show content of Actively engaging in regulatory discussions and innovative initiatives as thought leaders

  • Through thought leadership and stakeholder engagement, we seek to be a leading voice in public debate on climate change and sustainable growth
  • We are contributing to the discussions on developments in sustainable finance with trade associations, and responding to consultations, including those from the European Banking Association, the Network for Greening the Financial System and the Technical Expert Group set up by the European Commission
  • We launched dbSustainability, a dedicated sustainability research platform providing thought-provoking, value-added and aligned content spanning thematic, macro, quantitative and individual company analysis



Our contribution

We assess the contribution of our financing and issuance activities, to the SDGs to provide additional insights into the areas our businesses are contributing to.

Find out our contribution to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals in our latest Non-Financial Report.

Our contribution to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Read More

 

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Initiatives & Pledges we endorse

Selected ESG Ratings & Assessments

As per March 2024

Deutsche Bank’s sustainability performance is regularly assessed by leading international ESG rating agencies. These assessments provide valuable information for investors and other stakeholders. They provide Deutsche Bank itself with an insight into the performance of its business in comparison to its competitors, while at the same time providing an incentive to continuously optimize processes and stakeholder involvement.

The market for ESG ratings is not fully regulated and has a large number of market participants. Therefore, Deutsche Bank focuses on the rating agencies, which are considered relevant to investors and customers as well as to the sustainability performance and whose methodological approach is transparent. In 2023, the overall level was good:

CDP Climate Change

B


2022: B
2021: B
2020: C

Scale (best to worse)
A to D-

ISS ESG Corporate Ranking

C+

Prime Status


2022: C (Prime Status)
2021: C (Prime Status)
2020: C (Prime Status)

Scale (best to worse):
A+ to D-

MSCI ESG Ratings

A


2022: A
2021: A
2020: A

Scale (best to worse):
AAA to CCC

S&P Global CSA

54


2022: 59
2021: 60
2020: 56

Scale (best to worse):
100 to 0

Sustainalytics ESG Risk Rating

27.9


2022: 27.9
2021: 27.4
2020: 30

Scale (best to worse):
0 to 100

Current developments:

  • In the CDP rating 7 or 12 subcategories have been improved. 8 categories are now at A, two more at A-. In order to receive an A rating, the answers to the CDP questionnaire must be published - which the Bank will consider for future participation
  • In the ISS ESG Corporate Rating, Deutsche Bank has achieved a C+ for the first time and is therefore one of the few companies in the industry to achieve this rating
  • The MSCI remains unchanged with a score of A
  • The deterioration in the S&P Global CSA is mainly due to a change in reporting and transparency methodology, which was not sufficiently well achieved in 2023
  • Sustainalytics’ evaluation is stable at 27,9

The Bank is continuously working to improve its transparency on sustainability performance so that the progress of sustainability management is reflected in ESG ratings.

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