According to the ruling of the Federal Constitutional Court on the legal basis of the Climate and Transformation Fund, the German energy transition is facing a financing gap of 60 billion euros. The judges ruled that the original coronavirus aid funds may not be used for climate change mitigation and the development of a CO₂-neutral economy as planned by the German Federal Government.
The fiscal situation once again shows that the climate goals of the European Green Deal also require significant investment from the private side. In this respect, tangible asset funds can play a key role.
"With investments in wind and solar farms, investors can participate in the opportunities of the energy transition and support the expansion of renewable energies. Such funds generate the income from the sale of the generated electricity. New investor funds enable the fund management to set up or acquire additional parks."
State subsidies generally no longer play a role in this: The green electricity is either sold at market price via the electricity exchange or via long-term purchase agreements with large companies. Demand on the investor side is there: Since the end of 2020, Commerz Real’s "klimaVest" alone has raised more than 1.8 billion euros from wealthy private investors and built up a portfolio of more than 40 wind and solar farms.
“The investment potential of German private investors is enormous,” says Koch. Tangible asset funds are therefore an essential addition to state investments in the energy transition. Industry associations have long demanded that open-ended real estate funds (OIFs) also be allowed to invest in renewable energy systems. Henning Koch also underlines this requirement: “As a widespread savings product with a total volume of more than 130 billion euros, the German open-end real estate funds can make a substantial contribution to financing the further expansion of renewables.”
The necessary legislative changes were originally planned for the Future Financing Act adopted in November, but were initially postponed. For example, diversified investments in energy infrastructure for private investors in Germany are for the time being only possible via special investment vehicles such as European long-term investment funds (ELTIF), which also include klimaVest, or the open-ended infrastructure special fund. With hausInvest, Commerz Real manages one of the largest open-ended real estate funds in Germany with a volume of more than EUR 14 billion.
Commerz Real AG is the asset manager of the Commerzbank Group and has 50 years of international market experience. The company combines extensive know-how in asset management with broad structuring expertise and uses this expertise to develop tangible asset-oriented fund products and individual investment solutions in the real estate and infrastructure sectors. As a leasing service provider of Commerzbank, Commerz Real Mobilienleasing also offers needs-based leasing concepts.
Since 2025, the Commerzbank Group’s asset management holdings have been bundled with Commerz Real AG. In addition to Commerz Real’s brands and products, these include the Aquila Capital investment company with a focus on sustainable tangible asset investments in the area of energy infrastructure and Yellowfin as a boutique for liquid investment strategies. Under the umbrella of Commerz Real AG, a total of around 1,000 employees manage assets of around EUR 55 billion at around 20 locations.
A Commerzbank Group company