The promise sounds good, but it's not that easy to implement: Earning money and protecting the climate at the same time - that's how banks and fund companies advertise sustainable investments. This is also the case with the investment company Commerz Real, which, according to its own statements, once launched the first impact fund for private investors called Klima Vest. Promoting such funds that focus on environmental goals is a tricky business. Commerz Real, which belongs to the Commerzbank Group and has now collected almost 600 million euros, had to find out that this is the case.

The Baden-Württemberg consumer advice center and the fund company met before the Stuttgart Regional Court because of controversial statements made on the website.

According to the consumer advice center, the provider had advertised the investment with a CO2 calculator that interested parties can use to calculate their alleged CO2 footprint based on certain categories.

In a second step, they should then be able to determine the investment amount with which they can offset their carbon dioxide emissions.

According to consumer advocates, this misleadingly suggested “very specific effects” of the investment decision on one's own carbon footprint.

In fact, the query criteria of the carbon dioxide calculator are not suitable for calculating an exact CO2 value.

It all depends on the detail

Against this background, the consumer advocates demanded a cease and desist from the fund provider. This refused them. In the process it came out that Commerz Real changed the corresponding passages as early as the end of October 2021. Therefore, the originally established direct connection between the investment in the fund and the personal carbon footprint has been removed depending on the amount subscribed, it said on the part of the provider. Niels Nauhauser from the Baden-Württemberg consumer center said that the advertising statement had also been relativized to the effect that an effect on the personal carbon footprint was no longer expressly promised. "But the advertising has now become even more vague," criticized the consumer advocate afterwards. The judge expressly emphasized at the hearing,that one must be precise and strict with environmental information. A decision is to be announced at the end of January.

The investment company Commerz Real has invested the money of its customers in Germany, France, Spain and Scandinavia in wind and solar parks.

This can also be an existing system.

This is viewed critically by the consumer advice center Baden-Württemberg.

It is problematic then to say that this leads to an avoidance of greenhouse gases.

The court could not quite follow this line of argument of the consumer association.

The judge said that no investor expected the fund to become a general contractor and build the plants themselves.

In the future, the fund intends to invest more in new systems, which will then be taken over directly by the project developer, reported a spokesman.

A certain amount of skepticism is required

In contrast to conventional sustainability funds, the Klima Vest invests in assets that make a measurable and thus verifiable contribution to reducing CO2 emissions. The aim is to achieve an annual return of 3 to 4 percent. You can subscribe from 10,000 euros. But how can consumers be sure that sustainable investments really lead to more sustainability, i.e. fewer greenhouse gases, cleaner seas or fewer weapons? The economists Marco Wilkens and Christian Klein came to the conclusion in a report published in January 2021 for the consumer advice centers that direct effects via the capital market are possible, but currently hardly detectable.

"Offers from the financial industry that advertise with a direct contribution from their investment products to certain sustainability goals and at the same time promise returns that are customary in the market must therefore be critically scrutinized," the consumer advocates conclude.

Their financial expert Nauhauser emphasized: “In our opinion, advertising promises with statements about the effects on the environment must always be substantiated by the provider in a comprehensible and reliable manner.

It is important to explain what impact the specific, individual purchase of an investment has on the climate.

General statements on climate impact are completely irrelevant for an individual decision. "