Greenpeace protests outside headquarters of Deutsche Bank subsidiary
Activists from the environmental organization Greenpeace protested on Thursday morning in front of the headquarters of Deutsche Bank asset management company DWS Investment in Frankfurt.
The activists had brought 25 red oil barrels from which some 200 litres of an oil-like substance were poured onto the street to protest the fund's investment policies, Greenpeace said.
Activists also displayed banners with slogans including "No money for climate killers!"
In a study published on Thursday, Greenpeace looked at the investments of Germany's four largest funds in fossil fuel companies. Greenpeace claims DWS was ranked last in the industry when it came to implementing promised climate protection measures.
DWS rejected the accusations.
"It is shocking that nine years after the adoption of the Paris Climate Agreement, not a single one of the asset managers analysed has a Paris-compliant investment policy and the worst climate sinners are being blithely financed," said Greenpeace financial expert Mauricio Vargas.
Deutsche Bank's asset management firm DWS has long been accused of marketing so-called green financial products as more environment-friendly than they actually are, a practise known as greenwashing.
At the beginning of February officials from Germany's public prosecutor's office searched the premises of DWS, following an initial search conducted in May 2022. DWS has always rejected the greenwashing allegations.
DWS says the group last year introduced investment restrictions for companies with an excessive share of revenue from coal mining or electricity generation as well as for all companies that continue to expand their coal-related activities. "Over the course of the year, we significantly reduced our investments in companies that fall within the scope of the Coal Directive," it said.
"As part of our engagement activities we have set out our expectations towards portfolio companies regarding a complete coal phase-out from EU/OECD countries by 2030 and asked them to publish their transition plans for the coal phase-out," DWS added.
However, the implementation of the coal directive in certain portfolios, such as mandates of large investors, is dependent on approval by third parties. "Accordingly, there are still some coal developers/coal companies in these portfolios, as implementation can only take place once these authorisations have been granted by the clients," the company said.
