The financial system plays an important role in the transformation of the economy towards climate neutrality. This is because the transition to a sustainable economy requires the corresponding mobilisation of capital. Sustainability information will therefore also become increasingly important in lending. So far, this process has mainly involved credit institutions and their larger corporate customers, while requests for sustainability information are still relatively rare for SMEs in general. The results of a special survey for the KfW SME Panel in autumn 2023 show that only around one in six SMEs (16%) addressed the topic of sustainability in loan negotiations last year. This particularly affected larger SMEs, where the proportion was 45%. However, the need for information on the topic of sustainability is likely to increase further in the future and also include small and medium-sized companies.
Here is the link to the study.
