EMAS, which goes beyond the internationally recognised ISO 14001 standard, is the world's most ambitious environmental management scheme, launched by the European Commission in 1993. NRW.BANK has been awarded the EMAS (Eco-Management and Audit Scheme) certificate for the first time in 2024.
Transparent, responsible and conscientious dealings with its owner, its customers, its employees and society form the basis of the sustainable operations of NRW.BANK. The Bank is committed to living up to its corporate responsibility and to evolving it in a far-sighted manner across all areas of the company.
Sustainability is a central guiding principle and a key criterion for NRW.BANK’s decisions on business policy. It is reflected in all phases of NRW.BANK’s corporate activities, starting from its strategic and business policy decisions to the shaping of its range of products and services down to the implementation of specific financings, its capital market activities and the advisory services it provides. NRW.BANK understands the economic, environmental, social and corporate governance aspects of sustainability as being inextricably linked. The ethical principles are derived from the values of NRW.BANK’s mission statement [German] and its Sustainability Strategy. In accordance with its sustainability strategy, NRW.BANK specifically promotes such projects and programmes which are designed to improve the economic and environmental living conditions, social development as well as environmental and climate protection in North Rhine-Westphalia.
Sustainability Strategy
The new Sustainability Strategy puts the sustainability approach in the promotional business, the capital market business and the banking operations in more concrete terms. NRW.BANK aims to become climate-neutral in these three fields by 2045 at the latest. This is in line with the Paris climate goals. Strengthening social sustainability in North Rhine-Westphalia is another key focus of the Sustainability Strategy.
The Sustainability Strategy documents the already established sustainability processes and anchors them more firmly in the organisational structure and Bank-wide strategy of NRW.BANK. It defines the entrepreneurial approach of the Bank, taking sustainability aspects into account. Besides the economic viability of the projects funded by NRW.BANK, compliance with the interests of its customers and with all other aspects of sustainability are key preconditions for the Bank’s promotional activities.
Sustainability is at the core of the banks actions and an integral element of its strategic management. The business units are responsible for operational sustainability aspects, while the Sustainability and Impact Management Department ensures central framework conditions and monitors market developments.
The high relevance of climate change, biodiversity, transformation and sustainability is reflected in the fact that the Bank has established a permanent Sustainability Committee. This body, which meets as an extended Managing Board meeting, monitors regulatory and market-related developments, screens them against the needs of the funding recipients and the Bank’s objectives and ensures that all sustainability activities are linked in a coordinated manner.
Documents on specific topics put the Sustainability Strategy into more concrete terms:
Sustainability Programme
The Bank’s activities are geared towards sustainability. The strategic approach to sustainability issues and specific details are set out in NRW.BANK’s Sustainability Strategy. Taking this into account, strategic objectives for the continued development of sustainability at NRW.BANK are set as part of an annual review. These objectives are the fields of action in which the Bank intends to push ahead its sustainability efforts by taking appropriate measures. These measures, in turn, are intended to have a positive influence on the future of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. NRW.BANK’s current goals and activities are summarised in the Sustainability Programme.
NRW.BANK has almost fully achieved the objectives set for 2025 as well as the associated measures.
Our Sustainability Committee
In recognition of the strategic importance of sustainability, we have established a Sustainability Committee. It monitors the regulatory and market-induced developments in the area of sustainability and ensures their reconciliation with the requirements of the stakeholders and the Bank’s objectives. Sustainability is thus firmly anchored in the Bank’s organisation. Since the fourth quarter of 2022, the Committee has taken the form of an extended Board meeting.
Led by our Managing Board Chairwoman, the Committee has thus become the highest body for sustainability topics below the Managing Board and is responsible for NRW.BANK’s strategic and overarching business policy decisions with regard to sustainability. This means that binding decisions can now be taken directly by the Sustainability Committee with participation of NRW.BANK’s full Managing Board. In keeping with the principle of overall responsibility, the management circle is informed about the status of all sustainability issues.
Statutory Framework and Internal Regulations
The consideration of the sustainability principle is firmly anchored in the Act on NRW.BANK (section 3, para. 1) and in the Bank’s Statutes (section 5, para. 1). Special aspects resulting from the framework conditions of NRW.BANK such as “Verständigung II”, the public mission and the house bank principle are also taken into account. In addition, the Bank has developed internal policies that address various aspects of sustainability at NRW.BANK and are presented in the Sustainability Strategy, among others.
Basic Training on Sustainability
NRW.BANK has developed voluntary internal basic training on sustainability for all its employees. It looks at the general understanding of sustainability, political bases and the role of the financial industry. In view of the growing business and regulatory relevance of the topic, the training has been mandatory for all employees of NRW.BANK since 2024 and must be completed on an annual basis. In 2025, all employees of NRW.BANK (1,604 employees) successfully completed the training (excluding individuals on sabbatical, long‑term sick leave, and parental leave).
Compliance, Money Laundering Prevention and Corruption Prevention
NRW.BANK publishes information on compliance, money laundering prevention and corruption prevention on the Compliance pages of its website, among others.
Data Protection
For NRW.BANK, as a bank with a public mandate, compliance with data protection requirements is an integral part of its business policy. NRW.BANK processes the personal data of its employees, customers and business partners in accordance with the applicable legal provisions on data protection and data security.
Information on NRW.BANK’s data protection practices is published on the Privacy Policy page of the Bank’s website, among others.
Declaration of Human Rights
2024 saw NRW.BANK publish its first Declaration of Human Rights to explain the importance of human rights for the Bank.
Sustainable Procurement
In the context of its procurement policy, the Bank integrates environmental aspects also into the procurement of office materials, advertising items and food. Examples of these include environmentally friendly advertising items made from recycled materials or from renewable biodegradable materials as well as the purchase of environmentally friendly office products and organic meat from sustainably animal husbandry.
Public Corporate Governance Code
Being a promotional bank, NRW.BANK is very much committed to transparent and responsible action towards the public, its guarantor and owner as well as investors, customers and employees. This commitment is based on the Public Corporate Governance Code, as last amended on July 1, 2019, with which the members of the Managing Board, the Supervisory Board and the Board of Guarantors fully identify. The Managing Board is responsible for managing NRW.BANK; the Supervisory Board supervises the conduct of business by the Managing Board; the Board of Guarantors representing the owner resolves on general business policy decisions in accordance with section 10 and section 11 of the statutes of NRW.BANK.
Read more about Public Corporate Governance at NRW.BANK.
Responsible External Presentation
The Bank is firmly committed to treating customer information confidentially. The Bank’s Data Protection Officer is involved in all dialogue-based marketing measures based on customer data to ensure responsible marketing.
NRW.BANK’s initiatives and events focused on topics that support the sustainable transformation of the economy – in the spirit of climate action and carbon neutrality as well as social sustainability.
Initiatives and Memberships
To underline the importance of corporate responsibility for NRW.BANK and to promote its further development internally, the Bank joined the German “Diversity Charter” and the “United Nations Environment Programme - Finance Initiative (UNEP FI)” in 2009 and signed the ten principles of the UN Global Compact. Since 2015, the Bank has also been a member of the Green Bond Principles and of the Verein für Umweltmanagement und Nachhaltigkeit in Finanzinstituten e.V. (VfU). To reaffirm its sustainable investment policy, NRW.BANK signed the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) in 2020. The promotional bank became a partner in the cooperation network “Düsseldorfer Klimapakt für die Wirtschaft” in 2023 and part the “Allianz für Klimaschutz Münster” in 2024.
The “Diversity Charter” is an initiative which aims to promote diversity in organisations. By signing the Diversity Charter, NRW.BANK committed itself to creating a working environment that is free of prejudice and exclusion, thus fostering acceptance and mutual trust.
Go to “Diversity Charter” website [in German]
NRW.BANK has been an official member of the ICMA Green Bond Principles (GBPs) since 2005. NRW.BANK’s Green Bond concept complies with the standards formulated in the GBPs. It was therefore a logical step for the Bank to join the GBPs. ICMA complied with this request within only two days.
Go to “Green Bond Principles” website.
The Social Bond Principles (SBP) promote integrity in the social bond market through guidelines on transparency, disclosure and reporting. Here you can find more information on this topic.
PRI is a global investor initiative joined by more than 3,500 signatories with over USD 100 trillion in assets. The financial institutions commit themselves to complying with six core principles for responsible investment. The aim is, on the one hand, to create a better understanding among the signatories of the investment implications of environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues. On the other hand, the initiative supports its members in incorporating sustainability aspects into their investment decisions. As a signatory, NRW.BANK undertakes to comply with the six core principles for responsible investment and underlines its sustainable strategy in the capital market.
Go to “Principles for Responsible Investment” website.
UNEP FI is a global partnership between the United Nations Environment Programme and the financial sector. By signing this declaration on sustainable development, NRW.BANK committed itself to aligning its business activities accordingly and to practising forward-looking environmental management.
Go to “UNEP FI” website.
The UN Global Compact is a voluntary initiative of the United Nations, whose central instrument are the “Ten Principles” on the key issues of human rights, labour standards, anti-corruption and environmental protection. NRW.BANK endorses these principles and also supports their implementation in practice. It is therefore also a member of the UN Global Compact Network Germany e.V.
Go to “UN Global Compact” website.
The “Verein für Umweltmanagement und Nachhaltigkeit in Finanzinstituten e.V.” (VfU – Association for Environmental Management and Sustainability in Financial Institutions) is a network of leading financial service providers from Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. NRW.BANK uses the VfU indicator system for the preparation of its eco-balance. It enables financial institutions to determine comparable environmental indicators based on international reporting requirements.
Go to VfU website [German]..
The state capital of Düsseldorf, the Düsseldorf Chamber of Industry and Commerce, the Düsseldorf Chamber of Skilled Crafts and the Düsseldorf District Association of Skilled Crafts have launched the "Düsseldorf Climate Pact with Business" with the citywide goal of achieving climate neutrality by 2035. By signing the climate protection agreement, NRW.BANK has declared its willingness to implement measures to reduce greenhouse gases and to continuously reduce energy and resource consumption.
More than 100 enterprises and institutions have already joined “Münsters Allianz für Klimaschutz – das Netzwerk der Unternehmen”. Its slogan “Münster – Our Climate 2030” stands for a combination of offers, measures and actions for climate protection in Münster. As a voluntary partner in the alliance, NRW.BANK will use the goals and actions it has set itself to support the City of Münster in reducing its carbon emissions by 95 percent by 2030 compared to the reference year 1990.
By signing these sustainability-related initiatives and/or the voluntary commitments for sustainable corporate action developed by them, NRW.BANK not only wants to communicate this in a binding and transparent manner. The Bank also takes advantage of valuable opportunities to network with promotional banks and other institutions and to learn about tried-and-tested approaches.
This includes, for example, the implementation of regulatory requirements or the use of methods and tools for sustainable management.
Jan Gerdts
- Jan Gerdts will be happy to answer any questions you may have on the subject of sustainability.