Sustainable Instruments
As part of our broader sustainability strategy, Deutsche Bank has established a Sustainable Instruments Framework. This Framework is an expansion of DB’s Green Financing Framework to include two Social asset categories, Affordable Housing and Essential Services (health & social care), in addition to the existing green categories, Green Buildings, Renewable Energy, Energy Efficiency, Clean Transportation and Information and Communications Technology. Our goal is to ensure that our clients have access to financing that helps them to pursue the necessary transition to an environmentally and socially sustainable future.
The purpose of this Framework, which may be updated from time to time, is to have a single, robust methodology in place for the issuance of “use of proceeds”-based sustainable financing instruments, including Green Financing Instruments and Social Financing Instruments. The Framework covers all Sustainable Financing Instruments that can be issued in the form of (covered) bonds, commercial papers (CPs), repurchase agreements (Repos), and deposits. An amount corresponding to the net proceeds from any Sustainable Financing Instrument issued under the Sustainable Instruments Framework will be designated, at issuance, to finance and/or refinance assets within Deutsche Bank’s Sustainable Asset Pool. The Sustainable Asset Pool is composed of both loans to and investments in corporations, assets, or projects that support the transition to a clean, energy-efficient, and environmentally sustainable global economy, that further societal progress, and that are in line with the requirements of this Framework.
The Framework is aligned with the ICMA Green Bond Principles (GBP) and Social Bond Principles (SBP), which are a set of voluntary guidelines that recommend transparency and disclosure and promote integrity in the development of the sustainable financing market. In formulating and updating the Framework, care was also taken to reflect the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); and aspects of the regulation on European green bonds (the European green bond Standard or EuGBS); and the regulation as well as the delegated acts of the European taxonomy for sustainable activities (EU Taxonomy) on climate change mitigation and climate change adaption.
The independent consulting firm Institutional Shareholder Services ESG (ISS ESG) has reviewed the bank’s Sustainable Instruments Framework and results are documented in a second party opinion (SPO), which confirms that the Framework meets the ICMA Principles at the time of its publication.