Deutsche Bank announced a series of new updates to its sustainability strategy, including expanding its sustainable finance strategy to target opportunities for funding net zero transitions in hard to abate sectors, with the release of a new framework outlining its rules and parameters for transition finance transactions, and a new €900 billion by 2030 sustainable finance, ESG investment and transition finance target.
In addition to the increased focus on transition finance, Deutsche Bank also set a new nature finance goal, targeting 300 transactions by the end of 2027 supporting areas including biodiversity, ecosystem conservation and restoration in alignment with UN SDGs.
Deutsche Bank’s new target to facilitate €900 billion sustainable finance, ESG investments, and transition finance between 2020 and the end of 2030 builds on the bank’s prior goal set in early 2023, to achieve €500 billion of sustainable financing and investment volumes between 2020 and 2025.
The new goal also follows a series of strong quarters of sustainable finance activity for the bank, including €28 billion in sustainable finance and investment volumes in Q2 2025 – the highest in any quarter since 2021 – and €23 billion in Q3 2025. To date, Deutsche Bank has achieved €440 billion towards its target through the end of Q3 2025, up from €373 billion as of the end of 2024.
The new target distinguishes between sustainable finance and transition finance, with sustainable finance referring to the financing of pure-play ecological or socially sustainable activities or companies, such as funding renewable energy projects, and transition finance targeting required on a credible path towards net zero, such as financing a project to retrofit a gas-fired power plant for hydrogen co-firing. The transition finance category will also include sustainability-linked solutions.
Deutsche Bank’s new Transition Finance Framework follows the release by the bank of its initial Sustainable Finance Framework in 2020, which it subsequently updated last year to classify transactions and financial products as “sustainable.”
The new framework defines three parameters of transition finance, including the “Activity level,” referring to financing for activities that are not pure-play sustainable, but that enable greenhouse gas emission reductions and are required for transitioning to a net-zero economy; “Entity level,” which includes general corporate purpose transactions with counterparties pursuing credible transition strategies, and; “Sustainability-linked solutions,” including financial instruments that incentivize clients to meet ambitious sustainability performance targets, and are not limited to climate-related performance indicators.
According to Deutsche Bank, only the Activity level and Sustainability-linked solutions will count towards its new transition finance target, while entity-level transactions will not be included.
Jörg Eigendorf, Deutsche Bank’s Chief Sustainability Officer, said:
“While our expanded target shows our continuous commitment to sustainability, it also means a fundamental shift into a new era by including transition finance offerings for our clients. With the publication of our Transition Finance Framework, we can mobilize capital at scale for technologies that cut emissions and strengthen resilience of our clients according to clear and transparent criteria. It will help deepen our client relationships by supporting them in enhancing their transition maturity.”
Deutsche Bank’s new nature finance goal targets the facilitation of transactions contributing to biodiversity, ecosystem conservation and restoration in alignment with UN Sustainable Development Goals SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation, SDG 14: Life Below Water, and SDG 15: Life on Land. The bank said that the transactions are intended to support projects that safeguard natural resources, promote regenerative value chains, and support the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, and encompass emerging instruments such as biodiversity credits and nature-related financing.
