Sustainability Mission Statement and Guidelines

The KfW Group sustainability mission statement serves as a reference framework for our commitment to sustainability: It is based on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the 2015 Paris Agreement and the German Federal Government's own sustainability strategy.

Sustainability approach and key areas of action, explanation below — Sustainability approach and key areas of action, as at July 2024

The mission statement contains explanations on the strategically sustainable focus of KfW's strategy in five areas of activity: banking business, employer and banking operations. It also introduces the cornerstones of sustainability management and sustainability communication.

Not only do we consider it our mission to contribute to sustainable development worldwide, but this is the expectation of the German Federal Government, on whose behalf we work. Our sustainability mission statement reflects this aspiration.

The framework is provided by the Policy Statement on Human Rights and Human Rights Strategy and KfW’s sustainability mission statement with its five fields of action: banking business, employer, banking operations, sustainability management and sustainability communication. Banking business includes financing (according to the megatrends of climate change and the environment, globalisation, social change, digitalisation and innovation), the capital market and risk management. Employer includes the topics of employer attractiveness, equality, work-life balance and social engagement. Banking operations include corporate governance and compliance, corporate environmental protection and procurement. Sustainability management includes the sustainability organisation with the Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO), head of the department Sustainability Strategy, and the network of central sustainability officers. In addition, the sustainability guidelines, sustainability ratings and rankings and the anchoring of sustainability in the strategic target system. Sustainability communication includes sustainability reporting, the online sustainability portal and stakeholder management.

Specifically, the sustainability mission statement includes the following points:

It sets out our understanding of sustainability in relation to the sustainability dimensions of the economy, environment and social issues.
It formulates a vision of our role and our desire to act as one of the leading promotional banks worldwide in line with our understanding of sustainability.
Concrete goals are identified for selected action areas. Beyond financing topics, we take a systematic view of the topics of banking business and employer.

Detailed information on the mission statement and the fields of action can be found in KfW Group’s sustainability mission statement.

Due to new developments, KfW is revising its sustainability mission statement. Some topics will be re-introduced, for example topics from the tranSForm project. Other topics have been further developed in the meantime. For example, a new, holistic sustainability approach has been developed for the capital market business and green bond investments have been integrated into KfW’s liquidity portfolio.

Our sustainability guidelines

With our sustainability management system, we ensure that environmental and social aspects are taken into account in all areas of the company’s activities. Our own sustainability guidelines for banking operations and banking business flesh out these requirements.

In addition to sustainability guidelines for corporate environmental protection and responsible procurement, each business sector has its own sustainability policy with an aim to take ecological and social issues into account in all financing and promotional projects.

The guidelines are available in the Download Centre.

Sustainability Mission Statement and Guidelines

Presentation of the sustainability approach and central fields of action

Our sustainability guidelines

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