Deutsche Bank well on the way to climate neutrality

Frankfurt am Main / London, Deutsche Bank has made a major step towards achieving its target of completely carbon-neutral business operations by 2012. One year on from its announcement that it would cut its global carbon footprint by 20% a year against the reference year 2007, the Bank has made further significant progress in neutralizing its carbon emissions.

Approximately half of all of the bank’s carbon emissions - estimated at approximately 650,000 tonnes of CO2 worldwide for the reference year 2007 - is attributable to energy consumption. Deutsche Bank has therefore been working to continuously improve the energy efficiency of its premises over the past twelve months. Today, as much as 67% of the electricity consumed by the bank worldwide comes from renewable energy sources; in 2007, this was just 7%. In Germany, England, Italy, Switzerland and the USA, the bank now uses electricity exclusively from renewable energy sources.

“We have cut our carbon emissions by 173,000 tonnes since 2007 simply by using renewable energy,” said Caio Koch-Weser, Vice Chairman of Deutsche Bank Group and head of the Environmental Steering Committee (ESC), which coordinates the bank’s climate strategy across all group divisions.

Green building standards have also played a key role in the refurbishment of the bank’s offices and branches. With its “Greentowers” project, Deutsche Bank is currently converting its headquarters in Frankfurt into the most eco-friendly high-rise building in Europe. Both energy consumption and carbon emissions will be reduced by at least 50%. Since March of this year, Deutsche Bank has also been pushing for “green leases” for its offices and branches, aimed at driving the economic and ecological optimization of its leased space. The bank has already executed “green leases” in the US, Germany, India and Hong Kong.

To accelerate the global expansion of an environmentally friendly IT infrastructure, the bank recently adopted an 8-point programme. Its objectives for the next four years include halving IT energy consumption in the bank’s offices and quadrupling energy efficiency in its data centres.

In addition, Deutsche Bank has made considerable efforts to reduce electricity consumption at its roughly 2000 sites around the world. By the end of the third quarter of 2009, the bank had achieved its aim of saving 50 million KWh of electricity worldwide in 2009 (equivalent to 7% of the total electricity consumption in 2008). Deutsche Bank has initiated over 700 eco efficiency projects around the world. The bank’s global climate strategy also foresees 50% reductions in paper consumption by 2012 and continued improvement in carbon emissions associated with business travel. In 2009, the bank is well on course to exceed its target of saving 100 million litres of fresh water globally per year by 2010.

The Bank has set aside up to €22 million through 2012 to offset unavoidable carbon emissions. This will be used to purchase high-quality emission certificates such as CERs (Certified Emission Reductions) and ERUs (Emission Reduction Units) issued by the UN in line with the requirements of the Kyoto Protocol.

Koch-Weser added: “Carbon neutrality by 2012 is a challenging objective to set ourselves. But this year we are already seeing that it is achievable if we all pull together. And this is one of the messages that we plan to take with us to the upcoming global Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen.”

About Deutsche Bank

Deutsche Bank is a leading global investment bank with a strong and profitable private clients franchise. A leader in Germany and Europe, the bank is continuously growing in North America, Asia and key emerging markets. With 78,530 employees in 72 countries, Deutsche Bank offers unparalleled financial services throughout the world. The bank competes to be the leading global provider of financial solutions for demanding clients creating exceptional value for its shareholders and people.

http://www.deutsche-bank.com/