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Investment Criteria

With our ethical and sustainable investment filter, we take responsibility as a Christian and sustainable bank. This filter applies to our proprietary investments, in-house funds, asset management, and customer deposits.

We invest exclusively in companies and states that meet our ESG requirements (Environmental, Social, and Governance). To ensure that our investments align with these values, we apply clearly defined exclusion criteria. Companies or states that violate one or more of these criteria are excluded from our investments.

Exclusion criteria for companies: Pax-BKC filter

Applies to proprietary investments and funds of the BKC family as well as the Pax Substanz fund.

E | Environment

Nuclear Power

  • Ownership and operation of nuclear power plants
  • Nuclear power and electricity generation (> 5%)
  • Products and services for nuclear power plants (> 5%)
  • Uranium mining

Fossil Fuels

  • Coal mining
  • Coal-based electricity generation
  • Coal reserves (> 500 million tonnes)
  • Oil and gas extraction (> 10%)
  • Unconventional oil and gas extraction and reserves: fracking, oil sands, and oil shale
  • Oil and gas extraction in the Arctic
  • Oil reserves (from 1,000 mmboe)*
  • Electricity generation from oil (> 10%)
  • Refining of oil and gas
  • Production of petrochemical products (> 10%)

S | Social

Armaments

  • Conventional weapons (> 5%)
  • Sale of handguns to civilians (> 0%)
  • Banned weapons (anti-personnel mines, cluster munitions) (> 0%)
  • ABC weapons, weapon systems, or strategic components (> 0%)

Protection of Individuals

  • Gambling (> 5%)
  • Tobacco (> 5%)
  • Cannabis for non-medical purposes (> 5%)
  • Pornography (> 5%)
  • Embryonic stem cell research
  • Abortions and nidation-inhibiting contraceptives

G | Corporate Governance

  • Unfair business practices (e.g. money laundering, bribery, and corruption)
  • Persistent human rights violations within the company or its supply chain
  • Persistent violations of ILO core labour standards within the company or its supply chain
  • Severe environmental and biodiversity destruction
  • Lack of willingness to transform (Stranded Assets category)
  • Animal testing for cosmetics
  • Genetic engineering (> 5%)

*Million Barrels of Oil Equivalent

Important note:

Our exclusion criteria may allow tolerance limits for low-value lines of business at major corporations. The majority of these companies’ products and services meet our ESG requirements and thus remain investable, particularly for the purpose of diversifying (spreading the risk) the investment universe.

Exclusion criteria for companies: Pax-BKC + PAB filter

Applies to Pax ESG funds.

The Pax-BKC + PAB filter additionally includes the following criteria:

E | Environment

  • Coal mining (thermal coal > 0% and metallurgical coal > 1%)
  • Power generation with GHG emission intensity > 100 CO2e/kWh (50%)

S | Social

  • Tobacco (> 0%)

Exclusion Criteria for Countries

E | Environment

  • No ratification of the Paris Climate Agreement or subsequent climate protocols
  • High greenhouse gas emissions
    − tCO2e per capita ≥ 20 and
    − tCO2e share of global total emissions ≥ 5
  • High nuclear power production (> 50%) without a phase-out decision

S | Social Criteria

  • Defence budget > 6% of GDP
  • Possession of nuclear weapons without a comprehensive disarmament plan
  • Non-ratification of conventions on biological and chemical weapons
  • Death penalty (executions in the last 10 years)
  • Lack of religious freedom (restriction of free religious practice)
  • Totalitarian regimes (suppression of democratic rights and press freedom)
  • Human rights violations (persistent and systematic)

G | Good Governance Criteria

  • High level of corruption (poor management according to the Corruption Perceptions Index flag)
  • Tax havens (non-cooperative states according to the EU list)
  • Money laundering and terrorism financing (Basel AML Index (0-10 score) ≥ 8)