Setting goals

A solid sustainability programme has an internal and external impact. KfW Group embeds responsible action in both business and banking operations and as an employer with concrete goals and measures. The framework is provided by the new sustainability mission statement.

As one of the world’s leading promotional banks, KfW Group has a special responsibility for sustainable development. Our aspiration is to drive the transformation to a global, sustainable economic and financial system. This can only be achieved if we continue to blaze new trails and continuously develop not only our promotional products, but also our standards and processes. KfW’s role goes beyond financing for a sustainable economy. We want to set standards for the credit and capital markets and continue to establish ourselves as a driving force behind national and international initiatives.

KfW sustainability mission statement

Our new sustainability mission statement defines the framework for this with its five sustainability action areas: banking business, bank operations, employer, sustainability management and sustainability communication. It explicitly references the sustainability goals of the Federal Republic of Germany, the European Union and the international community.

Sustainability approach and key action areas

KfW Group
Declaration of KfW Group on respect for human rights in its business operations
KfW sustainability mission statement and areas of action
- Sustainability management
  - Sustainability organisation:
    - Chief Sustainability Officer
    - Group Officer for Sustainability
    - Network of decentralised sustainability officers
  - Sustainability guidelines for banking business and operations
  - Sustainability ratings and rankings
  - Inclusion in strategic objectives
- Banking business
  - Financing activities
    (in line with the megatrends of “Climate Change & Environment”, “Globalisation”, “Social transformation”, “Ditgitisation & Innovation”
  - Capital market
  - Risk management
- Employer
  - Employer attractiveness
  - Reconciliation of work and private life
  - Social engagement
- Banking operations
  - Corporate governance and compliance
  - In-house environmental protection
  - Procurement
- Sustainability communications
  - Sustainability Report
  - Sustainability portal
  - Stakeholder management (dialogue and communication)

Sustainability programme

The 2019 Sustainability Programme reflects the goals and measures of KfW Group. It primarily serves as an overview for sustainability management in order to track progress and monitor challenges in all fields. In total, the programme has around 65 goals with associated sets of measures. A selection of the core issues and measures is presented below, broken down by the five action areas in KfW’s new sustainability mission statement.

Integrate sustainability strategically
As part of its internal Roadmap Sustainable Finance project, KfW is developing a multidimensional sustainability concept up until 2020 to integrate sustainable action even more fully into all business areas. The first of five sub-projects (new sustainability mission statement) has already been completed.

Invest in green bonds
KfW intends to invest EUR 2.0 billion in green bonds by 2022. It had invested around
EUR 1.3 billion by the end of 2018.

Issue green bonds
KfW plans to issue green bonds on a regular basis. Four green bonds with a total volume of EUR 1.6 billion were issued in 2018.

Measure greenhouse gases more precisely
KfW would like to more precisely measure the greenhouse gas emissions of its promotional projects in Financial Cooperation. To this end, it will develop guidelines for the energy sector and land use in 2019.

Increase transparency in promotional projects
By providing information on the environmental and social compatibility of Financial Cooperation projects, KfW aims to provide more transparent information. The first step will be to develop a suitable concept in 2019.

Strengthen stakeholder dialogue
KfW is working to further develop communication with its stakeholders. To this end, it introduced panels in 2019 with an annual survey of selected stakeholders on sustainability issues. Stakeholders’ expectations of KfW are also discussed in an annual roundtable.

Increase transparency in the supply chain
KfW is continuously broadening its responsible supply chain management, for example through an annual survey of the main suppliers on sustainability aspects and annual on-site audits.

Expand renewable energy
KfW wants to further expand the viable energy supply at the Frankfurt office. The target is to save around 1,500 tonnes of CO₂ emissions every year – for example by upgrading the heating and cooling supply system, which began in 2016 and is expected to be completed in 2019.

Put women in managerial positions
KfW plans to further increase the percentage of women in managerial and technical positions. It had already surpassed some of its 2019 targets in 2018: 36.1% team leaders (target: 35%), 27.1% department heads (target: 26%) and 12.5% division heads (target: 17%). In order to close the gap in female division heads, KfW has, among other things, adopted a group-wide equality plan (see GRI Report 2018, from page 63).

Strengthen agile collaboration
KfW would like to enhance our employees’ methodological skills in agile working methods such as scrum or design thinking in 2019. To this end, we are further expanding our digital academy and have extended the project contract for the “Transition Team Scrum” by one year.

KfW Sustainability Programme (German only)