Landesbank Baden-Württemberg

Landesbank Baden-Württemberg publicly commits to gender equality and women’s empowerment.

Landesbank Baden-Württemberg discloses absolute financed emissions, including the underlying data quality and coverage. Furthermore, the bank has set a target of net-zero financed emissions by 2050. In terms of climate solutions, Landesbank Baden-Württemberg discloses that there is EUR 8.8 billion of finance under its green bond programme. It also discloses the financing criteria it uses to ensure the protection of nature and biodiversity.

Landesbank Baden-Württemberg has a publicly available policy statement committing it to respect human rights and the health and safety of workers. It also has a grievance mechanism accessible to all workers, external individuals and communities to raise human rights complaints or bribery and corruption concerns. Landesbank Baden-Württemberg discloses the proportion of its total direct operations workforce covered by collective bargaining agreements. Furthermore, the bank discloses income tax payments for all its tax jurisdictions as well as its global tax strategy for which an executive-level body has responsibility. Regarding diversity, Landesbank Baden-Württemberg discloses the proportion of women in its total direct operations workforce for each employee category.

In terms of its approach to senior leadership accountability, Landesbank Baden-Württemberg could assign responsibility for sustainability to the group’s highest governing body and link the remuneration of its executive and management teams to sustainability performance criteria. The bank has an opportunity to disclose the proportion of women in senior leadership roles as well as how it addresses any gender pay gaps. It could also describe its engagement approach on sustainability themes and impact topics with clients and investees, across its financing activities.

Landesbank Baden-Württemberg could disclose interim emissions reduction targets at the group level, such as a 45% reduction in financed emissions by 2030. The bank has an opportunity to disclose the key sectors and companies it has identified as priorities to engage with on climate change, specifically on the alignment with the Paris Agreement. It could also align its renewable energy financing projects with internationally recognised frameworks. No evidence was found regarding Landesbank Baden-Württemberg’s approach to fossil fuels that spans across the fossil fuel value chain and its financing activities, such as the amount or share of finance it directs towards fuels, or its stance on financing companies with new fossil fuel projects. The bank could also make a public commitment to minimising the negative impacts it has on nature and biodiversity.

There is no evidence that Landesbank Baden-Württemberg describes the process for identifying its human rights risks and impacts through its relevant financing activities. To provide transparency on financial inclusivity, the financial institution 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.