KfW Group

KfW publicly commits to gender equality and women’s empowerment and discloses a target to increase the proportion of women in management and senior specialist positions. Furthermore, it identified and prioritised its impacts through a materiality assessment process which included feedback from external stakeholders.

As a member of the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net-Zero, KfW has set a target of net-zero financed emissions by 2050. It also discloses the aggregate amount and share of finance it devotes to climate solutions and defines these climate solutions according to an internationally adopted framework. KfW discloses time-bound targets for its climate solutions and aims to finance EUR 2 billion in climate solutions by 2022. Moreover, it discloses nature- and biodiversity-related impacts as one of its engagement topics with companies to which it provides financial services and discloses the monetary amount of its investments in nature- and biodiversity-related solutions.

KfW discloses the proportion of women in its total direct operations workforce for each employee category. It also discloses the proportion of its total direct operations workforce covered by collective bargaining agreements. In addition, KfW discloses that its executive board has responsibility for its global tax strategy. It also has a policy prohibiting bribery and corruption and includes anti-bribery and anti-corruption clauses in its contracts with direct business relationships.

In terms of its approach to senior leadership accountability, KfW has an opportunity to link the remuneration of its executive or management teams to sustainability performance criteria. In terms of female representation in leadership positions, women are underrepresented on the board of directors where only eight out of 37 board members are women. It also has an opportunity to reach at least 40% female representation in senior leadership positions and disclose the ratio of basic salary and remuneration of women to men in its total direct operations workforce for each employee category. While KfW conducts an EqualPay Check, it could describe how it takes action to address the pay gap. In addition, KfW has an opportunity to describe its engagement approach on sustainability themes and impact topics with clients and investees across its financing activities.

KfW could disclose interim emissions reduction targets at the group level, such as a 45% reduction in financed emissions by 2030. It has an opportunity to disclose alignment with the Paris Agreement as one of its engagement priorities with companies to which it provides financial services and that it collectively engages with them on alignment with the Paris Agreement. KfW could also disclose progress against the targets it has set for its climate solutions. No evidence was found regarding the financial institution’s approach to fossil fuels that spans across the fossil fuel value chain, such as the amount or share of finance it directs towards fuels, or its stance on financing companies with new fossil fuel projects. Regarding nature and biodiversity, KfW could demonstrate commitment to minimising its negative impacts at the Group level or financing regenerative solutions.

KfW has an opportunity to provide a publicly available policy statement committing it to respect human rights laid out in the UN Guiding Principles and the ILO declaration on fundamental rights at work. It also has an opportunity to describe a comprehensive process for identifying its human rights risks and impacts across all its activities, especially its financing activities. Furthermore, KfW as an opportunity to establish a grievance mechanism accessible to all workers, external individuals and communities to raise human rights complaints or concerns. While KfW discloses the ages of its executive board members, it could also disclose this information for each employee category. To provide transparency on financial inclusivity, KfW has an opportunity to disclose the amount of finance directed towards, for example, women-owned businesses, small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) or low-income developing countries.