KfW supports the TCFD (Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosure)

At the end of October 2018 KfW Group became the first German and unilateral promotional bank to officially register as a "supporter" of the TCFD.

"The risks of climate change threaten the stability of our economic and financial systems. I therefore think it is essential for companies to actively address the impact of climate change on their business activities and discuss with their stakeholders and transparently outline how to deal with material risks," explains Dr Günther Bräunig, Chief Executive Officer of KfW Group. "Ultimately, intensive focus on climate risks is also likely to give rise to opportunities for forward-looking, sustainable business sectors.

The TCFD was set up in 2015/2016 by the Financial Stability Board on behalf of the G20 finance ministers and central banks. Since June 2017 it has published recommendations on how companies can better analyse and assess climate-related risks in terms of the impact on their business activities and make these risks transparent. Climate risks as defined by the TCFD can be classified into physical risks (e.g. natural disasters caused by climate change) and transitory risks (e.g. regulatory measures such as a carbon tax).

KfW also considers climate risks to be risk drivers that can influence its own business and the business of its customers. It therefore regards the TCFD's basic stance as very sensible and has expressed its support for it. "As part of our 'Roadmap Sustainable Finance', we established our own working group in 2018 to intensively review how we could best adopt the TCFD recommendations and integrate them into our processes", explains Bräunig. The initial outcomes are expected in 2019.

More information about TCFD can be found here: https://www.fsb-tcfd.org/