Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann welcomes the common stance agreed by the ECB Governing Council for sustainable and responsible investment principles for the euro-denominated non-monetary policy portfolios of Eurosystem central banks, emphasising that the Bundesbank is already working on incorporating these principles into its investment practices and disclosures. 

Eurosystem central banks are each responsible for their own non-monetary policy portfolio. The principles guide the central banks in their ongoing work on measuring carbon emissions and other metrics of these portfolios. They furthermore envisage annual climate-related disclosures for these portfolios by the end of 2022 at the latest. “We have already begun our work on climate-related disclosures,” Executive Board member Sabine Mauderer says. “The Bundesbank is well on its way to laying the necessary groundwork by mid-2022.”

Bundesbank President Weidmann commented that “Combating climate change is a defining issue of our time. The Bundesbank is working across all its areas of responsibility to contribute to this effort within the framework of its mandate.” The Executive Board has also set up a Steering Committee for Green Finance, where business units regularly report on progress made in projects in this field, and the Bank coordinates and advances its climate-related work.

The Bundesbank’s euro-denominated non-monetary policy portfolio consists solely of covered bonds, and it is used to invest the Bank’s own funds, reserves and provisions.