BERLIN (dpa-AFX) - Germany's insurers would like to invest more in sustainable investments, according to the industry association GDV. The companies had increased the share of sustainable investments last year and would like to do even more, GDV Chief Executive Jorg Asmussen said in Berlin on Tuesday. "But there is a lack of suitable projects and appropriate framework conditions."

The industry has about 1.9 trillion euros in capital investments and invests about 300 billion euros in new assets every year. It complains that there are not enough sustainable large-scale projects that are profitable in the long term, as well as long planning times for wind farms, for example.

The industry wants to become CO2-neutral by 2050 at the latest. The path to this goal is not always straightforward, said Asmussen, referring to the so-called CO2 footprint. "After 71 tons of CO2 related to one million euros of investment in 2021, this value was 79 tons last year." Asmussen cited catch-up effects after the Corona pandemic and the availability and quality of data as reasons. So far, he said, there are no uniform criteria for the carbon footprint.

At the same time, GDV criticized "an excess of regulation at both national and European level." The EU directive on sustainability reporting (CSRD) was cited as one example. The directive's goal is good and important, said Christoph Jurecka, GDV presidium member. "However, the density and abundance of reporting requirements overwhelm companies." Sustainability reports should not be data graveyards./mar/DP/stw