Deutsche Bank to link exec pay to green targets

Germany’s largest lender Deutsche Bank said on Monday, December 7, that its top executive’s pay will partly be based on achieving sustainability targets from next year onwards.

The bank said it had created annual growth targets for business activities linked to sustainable finance and investment projects and “plans to link them to management compensation from 2021.”

The new rules, covering the variable part of pay packets, will initially affect fewer than 20 people, Agence France-Presse (AFP) understands, including the 10 members of the management board chaired by chief executive officer Christian Sewing and 7 senior executives.

The bank plans to extend the practice to other levels of management, AFP has learned. 

The bank in May set itself the target of reaching a volume of 200 billion euros ($243 billion) in sustainable projects by 2025, whether through financing for clients or investments made by its own asset management division.

It put up a goal of 20 billion euros in sustainable projects by the end of this year, and confirmed on Monday that it “is confident of comfortably reaching the target.”

“It is our ambition to be a leader on sustainability in the financial sector, and contribute to an environmentally sound, socially inclusive, and well-governed world,” Sewing said.

In September, Deutsche Bank was one of 150 companies and investors who signed a letter urging European Union leaders to reduce greenhouse gases by at least 55% by 2030 compared with 1990 levels – the target eventually agreed by the EU.

German carmaker BMW in July said executive pay would also in part depend on a series of targets for reducing carbon emissions. – Rappler.com