Commerzbank AG

Commerzbank is committed to its corporate responsibility and has established sustainability as one of the four pillars of the corporate strategy. For this purpose, we consider all the important aspects of our actions and along our value creation chain, and align our environmental and energy management on international standards. Consequently, our senior management team is available to provide the information and resources required to meet our targets. In addition to the Board of Managing Directors and managers, all employees are responsible for compliance with the applicable environmental and energy-relevant regulations. In addition, we regularly inform our stakeholders about our environmental and energy-related performance.

We are committed to making a positive contribution to the achievement of the targets set by the Paris Climate Accords with our business activities. This applies in particular to issuing credit, as well as the investment portfolio of our clientele, whom we want to accompany on the path to sustainable transformation. We underline this target with our commitment to Net Zero CO2 emissions from finance in the entire portfolio by 2050.

We sensitise our employees, suppliers and service providers in order to reduce energy consumption. We use pioneering technologies and renewable energies in the interests of future generations. We were one of the first banks to join the Net-Zero Banking Alliance, and we want to reduce the CO2 emissions caused by our own banking operations to Net Zero by as early as 2040.

In order to reach this target, we will invest in generating our own electricity and rely on regenerative heating energy. We continuously review our property portfolio and, with the collaboration of our landlords if necessary, optimise the energy efficiency of the properties we own and rent, and that of their facilities.

Our certified management systems ensure that we recognise and prevent possible risks to the environment. The actions taken as part of the environmental and energy programme protect the environment and make an important contribution to conserving resources. We continuously minimise our greenhouse gas emissions and act responsibly in harmony with people and nature.

We are committed to promoting biodiversity wherever this is possible for us. Our responsibility for promoting biodiversity applies both to our products and our locations.

We are committed to purchasing reusable and energy-efficient products and services wherever possible so that we can significantly reduce our total waste volumes and our energy consumption. We regularly analyse the products we purchase with regard to the packaging materials used, and we use reusable systems with the vision of implementing a continuous and consistent recycling economy (“cradle to cradle”). Our “Standard for sustainable procurement” sets binding rules for compliance with sustainability aspects when purchasing goods and services, and reflects our claim to corporate responsibility.

We have set ourselves the target of achieving a 100% climate-neutral supplier portfolio by 2040. As a result, our purchasing decisions also exert an active influence on the sustainable alignment of our suppliers and service providers. Environmental and sustainability criteria are included in our requests for quotations. In addition, we expect our suppliers and service providers to support us in reaching our climate targets.

We create incentives for employees to increasingly use public local and long-distance transport. In order to further reduce the emissions caused by commuting, we enable mobile working. We employ environmentally friendly vehicles in our fleet and are successively expanding the charging infrastructure for electric cars at our locations. Business trips can be successively replaced by the use of digital technologies. Restricting flights cuts our CO2 footprint.

As a result of our environmental and energy management system, which is certified in accordance with ISO 14001 and ISO 50001, we are committed to the continuous improvement of both our environmental performance and our energy efficiency. The Board of Managing Directors receives regular reports about the effectiveness of our management systems.