Deutsche Bank has updated its sustainability strategy with a new long-term target to facilitate €900 billion ($960 billion) in sustainable finance, ESG investments and transition finance by the end of 2030. The figure includes €440 billion ($470 billion) already recorded between January 2020 and the end of the third quarter of 2025.
The bank has, for the first time, separated sustainable finance from transition finance. Sustainable finance refers to funding activities that are inherently low-carbon or socially beneficial, such as renewable energy infrastructure or green hydrogen production. Transition finance covers activities that support emissions reductions along credible net-zero pathways, including retrofits or technologies that reduce the carbon intensity of existing systems.
Jörg Eigendorf, Deutsche Bank’s Chief Sustainability Officer, said the expanded target marks “a fundamental shift” in the bank’s approach, noting that the new framework is intended to guide capital toward technologies that cut emissions and strengthen clients’ resilience.
Alongside the updated target, the bank has published its first Transition Finance Framework (TFF), which will take effect from 1 January 2026. The framework complements the bank’s Sustainable Finance Framework and defines three categories of transition finance:
- Activity-level finance: transactions that reduce emissions but are not classified as pure-play sustainable activities.
- Entity-level finance: general corporate purpose financing for clients with credible transition strategies.
- Sustainability-linked solutions: instruments tied to sustainability performance targets.
Only activity-level finance and sustainability-linked instruments will count towards the €900 billion ($960 billion) target from 2026 onwards. Entity-level transactions will be reported separately as the bank develops new systems for tracking this category. The TFF has received a second-party opinion from ISS-Corporate, which found it aligned with evolving market standards.
Deutsche Bank has also introduced a new “nature transaction ambition” as part of its broader focus on biodiversity and ecosystem restoration. The bank aims to facilitate 300 transactions by the end of 2027 that support clean water, ocean conservation and land protection, in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. These may include emerging tools such as biodiversity credits and nature-focused financing instruments.
The nature ambition draws on guidance from the bank’s Nature Advisory Panel, established in 2023, and represents one of its first major outputs.
At COP30 in Belém, Brazil, in November 2025, Deutsche Bank also confirmed it will work with Honduras, Suriname, Bayer, Siemens, Symrise and the Coalition for Rainforest Nations on developing a new asset class for rainforest protection.
