Current account, credit, savings: Consumers can contribute to climate protection and other sustainable developments with their banking transactions. Well over a dozen financial institutions consistently align their lending and investment business to “ESG criteria” – criteria with regard to the environment, social affairs and corporate governance. These “sustainability banks” offer common financial products, from checking accounts, loans and savings to funds. In addition, start-up companies in the financial sector are tapping into this market. And conventional banks are also trimming offers for sustainability.
Eco-money house or conventional bank?
Rating agencies see big differences: “Environmental and ethical banks are usually far ahead of other banks in their sustainability strategies. This applies to the quality of the ESG criteria, the severity of the exclusions and is reflected in the transparency towards customers and optionally towards the public, ”says Michael Zahn from the sustainability rating agency“ imug ”. This does not mean, however, that conventional credit institutions inevitably do less in ecological or social terms than alternative banks. Simon Dittrich from the “Forum Sustainable Investments” association refers to the “commitment” investment approach. The term stands for the endeavor of investors to influence companies to take ethical factors into account. “A large bank that is committed can make a big difference compared to a small specialist bank,” emphasizes Dittrich.
How sustainable are savings banks and cooperative banks?
“Conventional banks are increasingly reacting to public pressure and restricting climate-damaging and other unethical transactions,” reports the environmental and human rights organization Urgewald. “But her steps are still too slow and too small.” She cites the cooperative Sparda-Bank Munich as a positive example. You pursue “a holistic, if not completely consistent approach”. Among the savings banks, the organization refers, for example, to the institutes in Hanover and Cologne-Bonn: “All of this is by no means ethically consistent, but something is happening in the savings bank sector,” says Urgewald spokesman Moritz Schröder-Therre.
What about ethics at large banks?
The online portal Fairfinanceguide provides a picture of the extent to which the voluntary commitments published by banks are in line with international sustainability standards. There are currently 16 financial institutions listed on the website. The conventional money house that does best in the ranking is the direct bank ING. It meets 55 percent of the evaluation criteria. For comparison: the values for the green banks are between 80 and 95 percent. In a four-stage sustainability rating by the experts from “imug” from D (negative) to AAA (very positive) among the 25 largest, conventional German banks, the top five in the ranking – all with BB (positive) – alongside the real estate financiers KfW, Aareal Bank, Deutsche Pfandbriefbank and DZ Hyp set up the direct bank DKB.
What do “green” current accounts cost?
The basic price at the specialist banks is on average higher than at conventional banks. Triodos Bank, for example, a direct bank and largest sustainability bank in Europe, charges its current account € 5.50 per month. In contrast, the overdraft interest rates of the green banks are below the industry average. A free “green” current account is available at Raiffeisenbank Holzkirchen-Otterfing. The start-up Tomorrow also offers such an account. The “DKB Cash” account model is also free.
Savings and negative interest rates:
In the current phase of low interest rates, overnight money and long-term savings investments bring little or no interest. Some green banks are now also charging negative interest rates for higher deposits. This is the case at Triodos Bank, GLS Bank, Umweltbank, Ethikbank and Steyler Bank.
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