All editions of the KfW Climate Barometer

From 2022, the KfW climate barometer will be the first and so far only representative database for the investment behavior of all German companies on the way to climate neutrality. It includes both medium-sized companies and large companies and thus depicts the entire corporate landscape. It is designed as an annual repeat survey and also provides insights into the attitudes and activities of companies related to the implementation of the energy transition.

The established survey of the KfW SME Panel serves as the starting point. This has been carried out since 2003 as a written repeat survey of small and medium-sized companies in Germany with annual sales of up to EUR 500 million – including micro-enterprises and the self-employed. With a database of up to 15,000 companies per year, the KfW SME Panel is the only representative survey of German SMEs. In order to obtain an overall picture of the investment behavior of all German companies in the area of climate protection, large companies with annual sales of more than EUR 500 million are surveyed as part of a full survey.

All companies in Germany belong to the population of the KfW Climate Barometer. These include private companies from all sectors of the economy. The public sector, banks (central banks and credit institutions) and non-profit organisations are excluded. The sample is designed in such a way that representative and reliable statements are generated. In order to be able to draw conclusions about the population from the sample, the survey results are weighted or extrapolated (net sample in relation to the population) - the results are therefore representative.

Ensuring the extraordinary data quality of the KfW Climate Barometer is associated with a very high survey effort and high methodological requirements. The survey phase lasts from February to the end of June of a year. The cleansing and analysis of the data is also carried out with the necessary care. Only in this way can well-founded and reliable detailed statements on the situation in the corporate sector as a whole and on specific segments be guaranteed.

The survey is carried out by GfK SE, Financial Services division, on behalf of KfW Group.

KfW Research, KfW Group, Palmengartenstrasse 5-9, 60325 Frankfurt, research@kfw.de

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