In view of the increasing importance of ESG criteria, climate risks and regulatory requirements for sustainability in the finance and insurance sector, the 21st meeting of the working group was dedicated to the historical dimension of this highly topical issue. Commerzbank AG hosted the meeting on November 15, 2024.
After a welcome address by MATTHIAS KEMMERER (Commerzbank AG), BETTINA STORCK, Head of Group Sustainability Management at Commerzbank, explained how sustainability is anchored at all organizational levels of Commerzbank today and how ESG criteria shape the business strategy. PETER KRAMPER then analyzed the history of residential construction financing from a sustainability perspective. He showed that economic, social and ecological sustainability strategies were almost exclusively brought to bear through state intervention. MATTHIAS RÖMER presented a long-term study on the stability of the insurance industry since 1870, which he conducted with SEBASTIAN KOHL and KASPAR ZIMMERMANN. The study explains the higher resistance to crises compared to banks through precautionary saving, decoupling from the credit market and contractual savings. SÖNKE HEBING examined Munich Re's georisk research and its early engagement with climate change as a business opportunity. JACOPO CELLINI showed how European banks have initially understood environmental protection as part of their social responsibility since the 1970s, before integrating the concept of sustainable development into their business strategies in the 1990s, also to serve various economic and strategic interests.
The presentations and discussions made it clear that sustainability aspects have a longer tradition in the financial sector than is often assumed. Their role has changed from pure risk factors to strategic business areas.