Commerzbank is an official supporter of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). Our aim is to raise transparency through the disclosure of the climate change risks and opportunities associated with our credit portfolio. The TCFD recommendations constitute the basis for consistent and comparable reporting practices on the effects of climate change. Commerzbank publishes its TCFD disclosures in its non-financial report since 2022.
The TCFD standard was drawn up by the Financial Stability Council of the G20 countries and their central banks in June 2017. Currently, more than 1,000 companies worldwide follow the TCFD recommendations (as of September 2020). The initiative was launched in response to increasing climate change risks. Physical risks, such as the effects of natural disasters, and transitory risks associated with the transition to a sustainable economy, are becoming increasingly important factors in the risk management of banks and other companies.
Commerzbank joined the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTIi) at the same time as issuing its official support of TCFD. The SBTi has committed itself to reducing greenhouse gases based on scientifically calculated targets.
In the future, we want to transform our credit portfolio to take a more sustainable approach and provide our stakeholders with decision-making information based on transparent and comparable benchmarks. As a first step, the Bank has identified CO2-intensive sectors within its portfolio and is determining the level of CO2 emissions associated with these portfolio segments.
Commerzbank has signed the climate commitment of the German financial sector in June 2020. Thereby, we are now dedicated to achieving full compliance with the Paris climate agreement in the management of our credit portfolio by the end of 2022. The overarching objective here is to reduce global warming below the 2°C benchmark. By signing into TCFD recommendation, we have taken the next step toward achieving this.
