Press release

Renewable energy investments of Commerz Real generate savings of some 1.4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2020

• Demand of some 750,000 households met
• Development of portfolio by Klimavest impact fund

Commerz Real has reported electricity generation of 2,333 gigawatt-hours in 2020 by its nine investment products for renewable energy. According to figures for 2018 released by Germany’s Federal Statistics Office, this corresponds to the average annual consumption of approx. 749,000 German private households. This is associated with a saving of about 1.4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, calculated on the basis of parameters used by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the German Federal Environmental Agency. Comparable carbon dioxide fixation could be achieved by some 110 million beech trees each with a height of 23 metres, according to the Bavarian State Research Centre for Forestry and Forest Management; these would occupy an area of about 2,600 square kilometres, which is approximately the size of the federal state of Saarland.

Commerz Real has already been investing in solar energy for private investors since 2005 and also in wind energy plants and other energy infrastructure segments for institutional investors since 2016. At present the asset manager for real asset investments in the Commerzbank Group manages more than 50 solar power stations and over twenty onshore and offshore wind farms. Their total installed capacity is more than 1 gigawatt, which according to the International Atomic Energy Organisation (IAEO) corresponds to the average output of a nuclear power station.

The latest product, which came on to the market in November 2020, is the first German private investor impact fund with a focus on real assets, Klimavest. Over the course of its fund term of at least 50 years, it intends to grow a portfolio of plant for renewable energy generation, as well as sustainable infrastructure, mobility and forestry products. In contrast to conventional sustainability funds, Klimavest is only investing in those assets which make a tangible and thus demonstrable contribution to a reduction in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Furthermore, there are additional strict sustainability parameters pursuant to the current EU Taxonomy Regulation. The portfolio already encompasses seven wind farms in Germany and Sweden, as well as a solar park in Spain. In the meantime its volume has grown to about 360 million euros.