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are ways to invest money conscientiously and stefan meller knows all about them he's a banker and deals with sustainability for 15 years he's been advising customers and deciding who's loans get approved. for a couple dozen if i really feel like i can make a difference with the way i started in a conventional bank and it was when i just started a family i asked myself what should i do with what i've learned what am i leaving behind for my children. found switch to g.l.'s germany's oldest sustainable bank it does things a little differently to other banks it funds ecological projects and doesn't hand out bonuses stefan is on his way to meet an entrepreneur who needs money for his grand vision. of a day i've known as plan is to make paper out of grass on. scale it already works on

a small scale and he says it would protect resources but it can only meet demand for the new role material if he expand his business. we need a new plant so we're looking for someone from the sustainability sector who would live out this ideal weather and help to finance the plant lived. in and see it needs to be fully financed so we're talking about an investment of around $1200000.00 euros. cardboard boxes and paper a currently produced in big factories the raw material is usually good and often comes from far away it's an energy intensive process that plans to convert grass into pellets and sell them to paper mills the 1st test for mass production was successful creation paper from grass would be a revolution in paper manufacturing. bangash

is here to see for himself could grass pellets really replace wood and how much demand is there is it really more sustainable to make paper from grass these are key criteria for the loan approval. is so much this is a box we produce it has to look good to us the better it looks the more people use it that's the key really. that's i think it's also a very reusable thing you know. that's off the ceiling that's the goal the more the consumer uses it the better the carbon footprint. this is the raw material that we sell the paper mills for colorful. pellets from grass so that's what i'd really like to see because of course you're welcome to see the entire process let's go take a look. at this from the full he invests in the project stefan wants to see the entire production change from grass to pellets to paper.

the german capital berlin is also a hub of innovation what was once europe's biggest multitask has gradually been transformed over the last 10 years the idea is to live and work under one roof as socially creatively and ecologically as possible the 1st companies and tenants have moved in now it's time for the next construction phase and for that they need money . already to peaches and marlene venus from multiply break the german for multitasks they hope their plans will win over these 2 employees from treated or spank the prerequisite for a line is a sustainable and holistic concept. and we have a carpenter here to put in the windows new wave is the company destroying our signage begin we eat lunch here at the restaurant so the money stays here we invest in our tenant and i'm. done with him according to you have co-working actually make sense here because the term is supposed to mean that everything is interlinked the

various companies on site network and do business with each other. with us it's relevant to us that the tenants appreciate the space and help to shape it with that's the fundamental idea behind our careful loving and sensitive approach towards property rights. and selecting tenets it was not was this way but now we only least are nice people. and that fits the concept careful and loving i like that. greek is in charge of renting out months fabric an area of $4000.00 square metres everything is coordinated with cheap rents and a sustainable economy basil grows in this greenhouse the fertilizer comes from the excrement of fish that are bred here these berlin grown herds and fish are then sent on a short journey to local supermarkets and restaurants the public pond is fed with filter drain. indorser societies resources.

the on site restaurant. provides regional cuisine using organically grown produce there now planning to develop another section of the old factory the before running new sustainable companies and startups can move in they need to raise money. entrepreneur frank sickle founded the project has long been searching for a bank that matches the philosophy of mounts fabric. that the path of the traditional banking world is foreign to us in many aspects. of the process with triode us bank is very exciting and up here. i think they still have to act as a bank because they have a regulatory and

a risk oriented responsibility. they do the things banks do. are they also ask about the use about the product you know it's a financial partner that also contributes towards social value and sustainability now that's what they stand for and that was very important to us here on several of the boats when nesting in the old building when frank discovered as other investors probably would have got rid of them. and on the front we have an ornithologist now . the environment agency one of the birds to be categorized so they'd know which birds live here in the factory buildings public reports on view are now analyzed and observed the whole site of them. but we're creating nesting spots and replacement nesting spots it's also an exciting project with a lot of. back and wildlife alone won't be enough to convince the bankers.

scums classes were very strong on sustainability but that's not the only focus here we also need to look at how to manage the whole thing financially in a way that works and that's where the traditional banking methods come in. toward an. old banks work with the money their customers pay in everything that's deposited in current in savings accounts banks lend this money out in the form of loans to businesses public institutions and individuals banks make money by charging interest sustainable banks work in the same way with the difference that they only grant loans to companies and individuals they deem sustainable. multi fabric seems to meet the criteria at 1st glance but the bank wants to carefully check whether or not the investment will pay off.

in. the brand new grass pellet factory is undergoing the same approval process can paper really be made out of try to crass and is it worth it to find out more stefan moore from the g.s.a. bank is visiting the company's other side a cross between a farm and a tree and the entrepreneurs do the dead know nick is collaborating here with the university of barnet but he still needs to convince the bank otherwise all the work was for nothing as i've been out here as much as the view i'm here to see how the production process works and the testing time is that's what it is it's something we want to finance on a large scale can it even be implemented on a small scale what does the product look like and how is it made. how convincing is the customer attitude it is desire to make a difference of a big as we have here i have several mills here on campus this is a cutting mill that will let you have in the factory but this one's on the. as

a do the cutting there will be about 3 metres high i can hide behind that. this is for the huge advantage of making paper out of grass fibers is that we don't need around 2 liters of water per tonne of raw material as opposed to 6000 liters. making paper out of grass protects resources and it's a convincing argument this debate how much will you process the seed the stuff the aim is to produce $25000.00 tons a year. but for with years 25000 dollars. needs alone for the new machines that can process large quantities of grass into pellets otherwise they won't be marketable the grass is 1st cut into find 5 as they all need to be even in length otherwise the paper mills can't use them then the university of bonn could put a lot of research into ensuring this. he's been in the industry for decades and

knows the paper industry's requirements inside out. because the grass 5 is a so light the have to be pressed into pellets for delivery. was there i was required to chopped up material on the top here focused on what i didn't buy so now it's sped through the rollers and pressed up against you know exactly that's what creates the pallets. to the political the coals then go in the paper machine popular the pallets are different lengths. this is my district i know what it doesn't matter of the main thing is that the fibers in the pellets are the same length once they're released because that's the most important thing of all and every paper mill in the world could implement this tomorrow comes. out so why don't they. we created this stuff but soit not every paper mill is convinced the world needs this product right now to be popular especially the paper mills that

are currently integrated nelse and towards their work with wood because they have forests. they process the forest directly into politics. you're. stefan is impressed he'll know assess the risks and revenue forecasts of the grass paper to figure out a suitable loan and then i start using the companies in it started it would be risky to finance it with just one bank loan the missing link we need to spread it out so say we have a loan from g.l.'s bank that we can support that with crowd funding from g.l.'s crowd where we raise money from the public. present various projects on our website in a film we show the numbers what's behind it the plan. anyone can then get involved by investing up to 10000 euros in the project as a kind of private loan. with crowdfunding investors lend

directly to the project of their choice mediated by the bank to reduce their own risks if the company goes bankrupt the money is gone if the company is successful there's a lot of income to be made from interest. that is why this is a great example of how you can make a lot of money from a product that's also doing its bit for the environment like you just go for doing . stefan will now see whether or not the g.l.'s customers also want to pace of the grass paper company. and. this event in stuttgart is all about money invest is germany's biggest financial trade fair thomas cushion my style good for the nonprofit environment and human rights organization facing finance for years he's been. analyzing the investment behavior of financial institutions and revealing the dubious companies

they invest their billions in. their future bank notes released a video of the best you can see at the investment fair there are a lot of banks that claim to be sustainable. some type of unfolded at some some openly some are not of the book or few and some published glossy brochures about how they protect the climate and conserve natural resources. but often if you take a closer look at these policies never come to fruition with clean and honest to get on. the term sustainable finance carries with it certain requirements there must be no investment in armaments. graphy or child labor positive criteria includes investment in companies that protect the environment appearing to social standards and following the teachings of churches 40 percent of germans can imagine investing their money sustainably.

thomas is also calling for a body that banks could use to inspect their investments so called ethics councils that would help to side with the money goes. to want to get out in this i wish every investor in banker ethics council that they could use to guide them because there are a lot of external specialists sitting on these kinds of councils who could offer their expertise with a list and done with it and it's an all your expertise i'm going on in. the austrian fund manager camp of funds has had an ethics council for 2 years the in space company is a subsidiary of a conventional bank and invest part of its money sustainably according to its own criteria external experts meet regularly including alfred struggle the trained

chemist advisors companies on sustainability also in the ethics council to nuns and the social ethicist when the fund manager wants to make new investments the council goes through them with a fine tooth comb. that kepler currently invests $16000000000.00 euros a year the investors' money goes into various funds which then invest money into companies around the world $4.00 of the funds are considered to be mostly sustainable at least 51 percent of the money is invested in sustainable companies. they account for 1370000000 euros of investments so far. the ethics council deals with large sums and therefore a lot of responsibility the demand for sustainable investment is growing so what happens to industries that do harm the environment they would have no chance of securing funds from the pure sustainable banks the kepler ethics council however

uses the best in class principle. together we look at who's the best in the industry in got to be an automotive technology finance or pharmaceutical basis we invest in the best most sustainable names is the envy done so we don't rule out entire sectors i'm auditioning for example pharmaceuticals so bush began to fall on the bush and stead we find out who's highly committed to sustainability in terms of social and ecological sustainability climate protection human rights and so on leaders to see these leaders as the top players and receive funding there's a middle and bottom companies don't when it isn't just. does the best in class approach always mean sustainable low technically the aluminum company austrian mid-town are mag could be listed in a sustainable fund even though aluminum production is known to be

a heavy burden on the environment alfred says it's high time we rethought these kinds of industries. if. you were to get there with gerald miles now c.e.o. of the company after it has spent 8 years working to make the company more sustainable mad produces high quality sheet metal used for example in electric motors in a bid to be greener the company now collects scrap metal aluminum and melts it down for reuse. these aluminum blocks wants airplanes and car bodies. to do good to build substance doesn't that's why concealment and such a feat material for the products that we make here on site is around 75 to 80 percent aluminum scrap and from. the new producing one ton of primary aluminum takes roughly the same amount of energy that 4 households use in

a year in the hole in the book that solar do sing a ton of secondary aluminum requires only 5 percent of that a 20th and stuff on this is to. 60 lines on 6 lines not seen. melting and reusing aluminum doesn't affect the quality so it's a strategy that's paying off for the company. demanded to status at the end of the day to their prices what matters to a lot of customers you see in it and we're seeing a trend that if you offer a sustainable product that's the same quality getting for the same price then you're more likely to get the contract to become to store them to him but i mean the beginning of the. progress like this gives alfred confidence that it's worth promoting sustainability even in problematic industries the demand for eco friendly aluminum is growing. to follow max books are full for the next few years they've had orders for this special aluminum from various segments like hybrid car makers who now want to clean

aluminum. because they're worried their customers will ask what the metal is and where it came from. if and how banks and other companies change is hugely influenced by the custom is. there. a lot has changed over the last few years it been in smelts fabric they still haven't been granted the 1000000 euros loan they need to carry on the development. the to try it all spankers still don't know if the offer is attractive enough to lou a new hastens. already computers is in charge of new settings and tells us about the new expansion plans. give us an answer than our customer probably this is the this is the next building we plan to renovate right now we're

underneath the old steeping tanks. for us this is where the grain was poured in usually barley it was then left to soak in germinate so. we think we'll leave a couple of them to preserve the charm of the space and so the tenants can see what used to be here. so we'll see whether the floor space is $300.00 square metres and there are several stories. we have 6500 square meters in the whole building also there's a lot of room to play with. that's a fish reflection that's it takes some imagination to picture offices here but mulch fabric has already managed to rebuild and rent out large sections of the building which is encouraging for the bank has put its yard is why this potential is enormous considering the demand on the berlin market these spaces have been credible potential. amanda's very high also for the mixed use that mug spot

but it offers us what we've shown is this projects like this suit the banks philosophy. doesn't cross the river to infinity and the spanish doesn't know how the financing industrial building like this isn't something a sustainable bank would normally do but as we have to think about what effect a building like this would have on the social environment of the people and it also has to be economically and financially sustainable if you can combine these aspects because it's perfect for a sustainable banker and a lot of cuts but. the dutch bank has printed offices in berlin's quite spec district the 2 bankers a crunching numbers from months fabric. the sums are in the millions money from investors who want to support sustainable projects and make money their employer treat or spank is still quite new in berlin they can't afford to make mistakes florian cos has made a living from his convictions how much time. on hold there are so many problems in the world and challenges to solve and everyone can do their bit whether it's your

daily consumption travel your electricity provider or whatever because the thing no one really thinks about is sustainable banking and money has a lot of power in here for. around $157000000000.00 euros are already sustainably invested in germany that's around 3 percent but the trend is growing the for profits and all of those who are used to germany's consumer association examined the carbon footprint of funds with a one off a $1000.00 euro payment for a year and the result was huge best for between the best and the worst funds there was a difference of 800 kilograms of c o 2 which was a fear you would produce that driving from the north cape to naples so if you have $10000.00 euros or even $100.00 of that's a huge impact so think what a bank could do with 100000000 or a spike in with. some of these millions will go into the mult 5 break their loan was approved and the expansion can continue.

the g.l.'s bank gave grass paper the green light to he's been granted a loan at 600000 euros and g.l.'s customers clearly believed in the product too he raised another 600000 euros of private investment through crowdfunding in just 12 hours. base of us even in a swimsuit of white and i feel a laded when i see how quickly it can work because it gives me reassurance about what we're doing and its impact in the current market you. people are really interested and want to be involved in this it's a confirmation for our work that what we're doing here is right even beyond the question number turns content wise it's exactly what we want to do and it's the right time for this kind of work it's a satisfying feeling to know we're not alone we're part of a crowd and a community and it works well with the investments you to stop it from.

the 1st grass pellet system in the world can now be built on an industrial scale. known as checks of delivery of machine parts. production is shuttled to start in 3 months. does this it's. this is the smaller part here with humans or it might look big now but you have to imagine it would be working on a cuboid around bales that way 350 kilos in this little fish just stuff that they need to be thoroughly shredded and go to parties and also you need to be a bit violent with it that's what and soon the company will turn $75000.00 bales into grass pellets every year this could be a big step towards making paper more eco friendly. service for an unschooled office to office we're thrilled that it's starting soon the next parties will arrive sometime next week and extend we can slowly but surely start putting it all together it's a great feeling for us fung to son lucas which school just for florence. there are

plenty of ways we can make the economy more sustainable x. committees and dedicated bank customers who ask way of their money. we all have the power to contribute to more the food costs.

thanks to globalization we can buy just about whatever we want whenever we want the . most people are aware that others pay the price for this casual consumption but do they know how far reaching the consequences really are. trade wars

refugee and great fallacy localization. in 15 minutes on d w. every journey begins with the 1st step and every language with the 1st word published in the. new coke is in germany to learn german why not come with him simple online on your mobile and free shop d w z e learning course nikos vague. german. show hello upswings this is speaking when i come to the show with a day. this

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