Deutsche Bank Unveils Major Sustainability Push with €900 Billion Transition Finance Target
Deutsche Bank has announced a major expansion of its sustainability strategy, unveiling a new framework to accelerate financing for net zero transitions -particularly in hard-to-abate sectors - and setting an ambitious new goal to facilitate €900 billion in sustainable finance, ESG investments and transition finance by 2030.
The move positions the bank as a leading player in the rapidly growing market for transition finance, as companies in emissions-intensive sectors scramble to fund technologies and solutions that will help them cut carbon and meet global climate goals.
Alongside the expanded transition finance focus, Deutsche Bank also introduced a new nature finance target, aiming to complete 300 biodiversity and ecosystem-related transactions by 2027, supporting conservation, restoration and regenerative value chains aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
A Major Step Up in Climate and Sustainability Commitments
The €900 billion target represents a dramatic scale-up from the bank’s previous goal of €500 billion in sustainable financing and investments between 2020 and 2025. The update follows a run of strong quarterly activity:
- €28 billion in sustainable finance volumes in Q2 2025- the highest since 2021
- €23 billion in Q3 2025
- €440 billion achieved cumulatively by the end of Q3 2025
The bank said the new target responds to the growing need for capital to support both pure-play green projects and the large-scale transition of carbon-intensive industries.
A New Framework for Transition Finance
With the launch of its Transition Finance Framework, Deutsche Bank has outlined the rules and criteria it will use to classify and support transition-focused financing. The bank distinguishes between:
- Sustainable Finance: Pure-play ecological or social activities (e.g., renewable energy).
- Transition Finance: Activities helping carbon-intensive businesses move toward net zero - such as retrofitting gas power plants for hydrogen co-firing - as well as sustainability-linked products.
The framework defines three pillars of transition finance:
- Activity Level - Financing activities that reduce emissions but are not yet fully sustainable.
- Entity Level - Supporting companies with credible transition strategies through general corporate financing.
- Sustainability-Linked Solutions - Instruments tied to ambitious sustainability performance targets.
Only Activity Level and Sustainability-Linked transactions will count toward the new transition finance goal.
Jörg Eigendorf, Deutsche Bank’s Chief Sustainability Officer, said the new strategy marks “a fundamental shift into a new era,” adding:
“With the publication of our Transition Finance Framework, we can mobilize capital at scale for technologies that cut emissions and strengthen client resilience. It will help deepen our client relationships by supporting them in enhancing their transition maturity.”
Scaling Nature Finance to Support Biodiversity
The bank’s new nature finance target focuses on SDG 6 (Clean Water), SDG 14 (Life Below Water) and SDG 15 (Life on Land). Transactions will support conservation and restoration projects, regenerative agriculture, and emerging tools such as biodiversity credits, aligning with the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.
Deutsche Bank said these efforts aim to safeguard natural resources, promote nature-positive value chains and help funnel capital into one of the world’s most underfunded sustainability priorities.
In strengthening its climate, transition and nature finance commitments, Deutsche Bank is signaling that the next phase of sustainable finance will be defined not only by green energy investments - but by transforming the high-emitting industries that must evolve to reach a net-zero future.
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