NGOs table expert report to push Germany’s sustainable finance strategy

Better company reporting, more good examples set by the state and improved transparency in the real estate sector are three key areas where Germany could improve its sustainable finance ambitions and gear the sector towards fulfilling its pivotal role in decarbonisation, an expert report commissioned by NGOs Finanzwende Recherche and WWF Germany has found. At the beginning of the year, Germany’s sustainable finance committee published dozens of recommendations that were then inadequately incorporated into the government’s sustainable finance strategy, the NGOs said. “Financing decisions create tomorrow’s economy,” said Finanzwende head Gerhard Schick. He explained that public investments should routinely be made compatible with the Paris Agreement’s goals and no longer undermine climate policy. In addition, better data collection through company reporting and disclosure rules are needed to lay the foundations of a proper climate risk assessment system that shapes the sector’s functioning in the future, WWF’s Matthias Kopp said. “Sustainability reporting has to become a standard in financial reporting,” he stressed, arguing that company activities so far “do not make a relevant contribution to the transformation.”

Germany presented its sustainable finance strategy in May 2021, announcing it should make the country a global leader in sustainable finance and help mobilise money for greening the economy. The strategy proposes a “traffic light” system to identify green investment opportunities, announces the reallocation of nine billion euros in equities Germany holds in pension and welfare funds into green investments, and the plan to make sustainable finance the priority of Germany’s G7 presidency in 2022.