Sustainability

, Together, we drive your sustainable transformation forward: From consulting to implementation

Bülent Karakaya (BK): We finance all necessary steps on the path towards sustainable success, providing expert assistance to companies at every point along the way – with customised financing solutions that are tailored to the specific requirements of each transformation stage. Our internal experts are an important part of this process, and we develop individual solutions for each and every one of our clients.

Christine Rademacher (CR): In doing so, we always align our actions with the company and its needs. Our service portfolio is built on three pillars: excellent consulting, innovative financing products and long-standing expertise. To channel these, we are establishing a Transformation Advisory & Finance team which will begin work in January 2025, its members based at various locations across Germany. The team will not only provide end-to-end, strategic consulting services to our clients on all aspects of transformation but will also be responsible for structuring financing solutions.

Tim Koenemann (TK): We have been financing wind and solar projects for generating green electricity from renewable energies for decades and have expanded the CoC GIF portfolio by 4 billion euros to more than 10 billion euros since the end of 2020. Our next goal, which we aim to achieve by 2030, is to double our loan commitments vis-à-vis the sector to 20 billion euros. There is a growing focus on financing adjacent technologies that help facilitate the energy transition (e.g. producing green hydrogen or batteries for electric vehicles) and relevant green infrastructure (e.g. storage systems, grids and pipelines).

CR: Financing sustainable transformation also includes providing consulting services to clients, zoning in on all key issues, challenges and opportunities. Our consulting focuses on developing and implementing transformation plans, reporting / ESG indicators, ESG ratings and sustainable finance. In other words, we provide sector-specific expertise on areas such as carbon reduction, energy / in-house electricity production, raw material efficiency, recycling etc.

BK: We have also established a broad network of cooperation partners who provide our clients with individual and sustainable consulting and engineering services. When it comes to energy, this includes renowned specialists such as Sustainable Thinking, DMT Energy Engineers, Engie Impact and FutureCamp Climate. All of this underlines our aim to be a partner to our clients in their sustainability efforts, following our guiding principle of working closely together with them at all times.

CR: Mutual networking opportunities to discuss sustainability-related issues are particularly useful for small and medium-sized companies (SMEs), consultants, investors and specialists. After all, networking offers market players the chance to learn from each other by exchanging information and experiences. It also makes it easier to take on certain challenges, for example in the context of the circular economy. To this end, we raise awareness among our clients for corporate venturing and networking events, along with event forums such as Open Innovation, Open Forum or the Impact Festival.

CR: Ever-increasing regulations combined with copious red tape. These challenges need to be overcome before we can start implementing the green transformation – while keeping a close eye on Germany’s reputation as a manufacturing location.

That applies not only to our Bank but also to our clients. At the end of the day, we’re all in the same boat. For us at Commerzbank, ensuring that we are sustainable finance-ready – meaning that we achieve the sustainability goals for financial institutions – is very complex and challenging in itself. Our clients are also feeling the pressure: more and more companies are integrating sustainability aspects into their business models, and competition is growing all the time. It is becoming increasingly important to have individual sustainability solutions that are also simple and standardised.

BK: Let’s not forget the sheer diversity of relevant sectors and markets. And because every company’s transformation has a different complexity, solutions need to be both creative and flexible – for us and for our clients. Our focus is very much on combining our consulting approach with new, attractive financial products that are developed specifically with green transformation in mind.

BK: Sustainability is a major global issue that transcends national borders. While many countries are stepping up their efforts, not all of them have the expertise they need. This opens up many opportunities for German companies. When our clients explore new markets, Commerzbank is their international partner of choice.

TK: As regards green infrastructure, we help to finance projects around the world from our hubs in Hamburg, New York and Singapore. And wherever you look, there is a growing need for energy transition-related financing – which is why we have not only added more than 30 new members to our green infrastructure specialist teams but also increased staffing numbers in the relevant departments that interface with these teams. Our international team has outstanding structuring expertise, our global market experience and sector network are second to none, and we have very strong ties with the financial sector. We develop suitable financing structures and mitigants to suit the requirements and risk profile of our clients – and join forces with them to implement dedicated projects.

BK: Green transformation is seen as the game-changer. Our broad product range aims to harmonise environmental, social and economic aspects and reflects our focus on a sustainable future. We offer customised sustainable financial products that are in line with corporate clients’ needs, size and transformation level. While our ESG KPI-linked loans encourage our clients to step up their sustainability activities, ESG rating-linked structures offer another viable option. Clients that already have very sustainable or green projects to their name often prefer one of our use-of-proceeds products, meaning products whose proceeds are dedicated to a sustainable purpose.

CR: As a rule, we strive to develop products that drive and promote sustainable transformation, especially for the SMEs of tomorrow. For instance, we are working on an innovative, structured financing approach aimed at helping young companies with positive ESG-Impact. Applicants need to have an already more advanced business model with existing products, clients, suppliers, cash flows and adequate financial reporting.

As an additional requirement, they must demonstrate a quantifiable and innovative contribution to sustainability, such as those areas outlined in Commerzbank’s ESG Framework: carbon reduction; energy storage and efficiency; water management, waste management and circular economy; sustainable mobility; access to healthcare, education and essential services, etc.

TK: Given our client and product spectrum, we see ourselves as sustainability pioneers: our bilateral and syndicated non-recourse project financings are used exclusively for green infrastructure projects. As such, Commerzbank is a tier-1 bank for offshore wind farm project financing and has supported 19 projects in Germany, UK, France, Belgium, the US and Taiwan over the past years, including lead manager and hedging bank mandates. The current volume of loan commitments (1.3 billion euros) speaks for itself – and for us. We also offer our clients from renewable energy sectors – such as producers, project developers and independent power producers (IPPs) – our full range of corporate banking services. This includes products such as bid bonds, ECA (export credit agency)-covered financing, commodities hedging, portfolio-based interest rate hedging and equity bridge financing, as well as M&A advisory and financial advisory services.