From integration to impact – a new investment climate for Germany's SRI landscape

Abstract

For a long time Germany has been an underperformer in Socially/Sustainable and Responsible Investment (SRI) which are typically based on mutual investment funds. As many Cooperative and Savings Banks now very successfully offer investments into bio energy or solar projects/companies (among others), SRI seems to stand at the edge of a relaunch. This paper examines the current situation and trends regarding the German market of SRI in the field of climate protection funds, the availability of its products and their perception by private retail investors. As a starting point for further empirical research, the paper describes the derivation of a research question that consists of an analysis of German retail investors' preferences for climate change related investments in mutual funds. Along with this, we describe the research methodology with which we intend to find out how the financial market in Germany and its financial institutions can ease the change in energy policy and climate change in Germany when designing climate protection fund products that match the preferences of the investors.

Keywords:

• environmental politics
• climate change
• financial sector
• SRI
• investment funds
• conjoint analysis
• sustainable development