The Association of German Banks (BdB), the Association of Public Banks (VÖB), and the German Insurance Association (GDV) have joined forces to support companies providing municipal services of general interest in preparing sustainability data. As the GDV announced on Monday, the associations have created and published a guide for this purpose.
Financial Sector Needs the Data
Although most municipal utilities and public service providers are still exempt from the disclosure requirements under the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), their lenders and insurers are obligated—both by regulatory requirements and their own sustainability strategies—to collect the relevant data from their clients. This explains the financial sector’s strong interest in the topic.
According to the associations, the guide takes into account sector-specific data requirements that banks and insurers need for their risk analyses, disclosure obligations, and sustainability-related financial decisions. The publication complements the cross-sector ESG data catalog introduced by the associations last year and transfers that structure to meet the requirements of municipal companies.
BDEW and VKU Consulted
To ensure that the guide is user-friendly and easy to implement in practice, the financial industry associations consulted with the German Association of Energy and Water Industries (BDEW) and the Association of Municipal Enterprises (VKU). The goal is to reduce the workload for municipal utilities by avoiding repeated individual data requests and to promote a standardized collection of data.
Source: Börsen-Zeitung from 07. Juli 2025