NRW.BANK updates its Sustainability Guidelines - Exclusion criteria expanded, ESG Investment Framework introduced

NRW.BANK has updated its Sustainability Guidelines with effect from January 1, 2023. In this context, one exclusion criterion was expanded and a new one was introduced. The aim is to put sustainability in the promotional business into more concrete terms. The Bank has additionally developed an ESG Investment Framework to create transparency about the integration of ESG criteria in the investment business. Another new feature is that the full Managing Board is now represented on the Sustainability Committee.

“Sustainability is firmly anchored in NRW.BANK’s DNA. We support North Rhine-Westphalia in becoming the first carbon-neutral industrial state,” says Eckhard Forst, Chairman of the Managing Board of NRW.BANK. “We regularly check how we can make our promotional and capital market business more sustainable. And that is exactly what is reflected in our new, sharpened Sustainability Guidelines.”

Since 2018 already, promotional loans have been granted in accordance with guidelines regarding the fulfilment of sustainability criteria. What is new now is that another category has been added to the Sustainability Guidelines. The specification “Mobility/Transport” defines that investments in passenger cars with increased carbon emissions are no longer promoted. Instead, the promotion of transformative technologies that contribute to carbon neutrality is to be intensified.

To help reduce the impact on nature and resources, the eligibility conditions for “palm oil and timber” have been updated with a view to making them stricter. They now cover not only agricultural and forestry operations but also the trade in palm oil and timber. To ensure sustainable cultivation conditions, the latter must comply with international certification systems – or be in a process ultimately leading to such compliance.

The newly introduced ESG Investment Framework creates further transparency on how sustainability criteria are integrated into the capital market business. It provides insight into the concept, the objectives and the further development of the capital market business in terms of the principles for responsible investment. It describes the methods chosen to minimise ESG risk in the portfolio, while at the same time proactively supporting the achievement of the Paris climate goals. A central goal in this context is to have a climate-neutral investment portfolio by no later than 2045.

To aptly reflect the dynamic nature of the sustainability issue, the full Managing Board of NRW.BANK is now represented on the Sustainability Committee. This allows binding decisions to be made directly by the Committee.

NRW.BANK’s Sustainability Guidelines are a Bank-wide set of rules which puts the central guiding principle of sustainability into concrete terms and supports its ongoing development.

For more information, visit our sustainability page at www.nrwbank.com/en/about-us/sustainability

About NRW.BANK

NRW.BANK is the promotional bank of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW). Its mission is to support its owner – the state of North Rhine-Westphalia – in the completion of its structural and economic policy tasks. In its three promotional fields “Economy”, “Housing” and “Infrastructure/Municipalities”, NRW.BANK uses a wide range of promotion tools – from low-interest promotion loans to equity financing to advisory services. It cooperates with all banks and savings banks based in NRW on a competition-neutral basis. NRW.BANK takes into account the existing offers by the Federal Government, the North Rhine-Westphalian government and the European Union in the arrangement of its promotion.