News Releases Commerz Real: Private investments must play a key role in the energy transition

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 EUR 60 billion. 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.

"With investments in wind and solar farms, investors can take advantage of the opportunities of the energy transition and support the expansion of renewable energies. The income is generated by such funds from the sale of the generated electricity. New investor funds enable fund management to set up or purchase additional parks."

State subsidies generally no longer play a role in this today: The green electricity is distributed either at market prices via the electricity exchange or via long-term purchase agreements with large companies. There is demand on the investor side: Commerz Real’s “Klimavest” alone has raised more than 1.3 billion euros from wealthy private investors since the end of 2020 and has built up a portfolio of more than 40 wind and solar parks.

“The investment potential of German private investors is enormous,” says Koch. Tangible asset funds are therefore an elementary complement to government investments in the energy transition. Trade associations have long demanded that open-ended real estate funds (OIFs) also be allowed to invest in renewable energy investments. Henning Koch also underlines this requirement: “As a widespread savings product with a total volume of more than 130 billion euros, the German open-ended 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 will for the time being only be possible via special investment vehicles such as European long-term investment funds (ELTIF), which also include the “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 17 billion euros.