Sustainability Mission

“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. Our advice as well as our products and solutions shall be built on this commitment.”

Sustainability Strategy

Deutsche Bank has seen sustainability as an opportunity for many years. Consequently sustainability, which encompasses environmental, social, and governance (ESG) aspects, is a central component of the “Global Hausbank” strategy. We continually embed sustainability into our products, policies, and processes, focusing on the following four pillars:

Sustainability targets

To underline Deutsche Bank’s strong commitment to sustainability, the bank has set itself the following targets:

• 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). The volumes include sustainable financing and investment activities as defined in Deutsche Bank’s Sustainable Finance Framework
• Fulfill Deutsche Bank’s net zero commitments for key carbon intensive sectors by accompanying clients in their transformation (Transition Dialogue)
• Strengthen policies and controls to guide the bank’s actions and ensure compliance
• Sourcing of external ESG data, automation, and standardization of reporting
• Empower employees and establish sustainability as core value of the bank’s culture
• No financing of thermal coal mining from 2025 onward for clients in scope of the policy
• 100% of renewable energy used for own operations until 2025
• More female leadership: 35 percent of Managing Director, Director and Vice President positions are to be represented by women by 2025

Sustainability governance

The bank has three fora devoted entirely to sustainability. The most senior forum is the Group Sustainability Committee, which was created in 2020 and acts as the main governance body for sustainability related matters across Deutsche Bank Group.The Management Board has delegated sustainability related decisions to this committee, which is chaired by the Chief Executive Officer and the Chief Sustainability Officer (Vice Chair). The committee acts as senior decision-making body for sustainability-related matters on group level.

The second forum is the Sustainability Strategy Steering Committee. It is chaired by the Chief Sustainability Officer, Vice-Chair is the Chief Financial Officer Investment Bank, Corporate Bank & ESG. The Steering Committee, which meets on a monthly basis, has been delegated by the CEO and is responsible for overseeing the implementation of the sustainability strategy and its associated “Key Deliverables” (“change the bank”-responsibility).

The third forum is the Sustainability Council, which Deutsche Bank already formed in 2018. The Sustainability Council’s mandate is to foster knowledge exchange in the bank, in order to stimulate bank-wide change and to identify new topics. The council is co-chaired by the Chief Sustainability Officer and the Chief Financial Officer Investment Bank, Corporate Bank & ESG.

International agreements and commitments

Our sustainability approach considers global agreements, such as the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement on climate change. We voluntarily commit to following international principles, including the Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact, the UN Principles for Responsible Banking, and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.