KfW sustainability indicator 2012 : Best result for six years

Frankfurt (ots) -

- Indicator for the economy remains at high level: expenditures
for education, research and development benefit from strong
economic growth again in 2011
- Energy turnaround boosts indicator for the environment: higher
energy efficiency and expansion of renewable energies have
positive effect
- Declining unemployment raises indicator for social cohesion

The KfW sustainability indicator for 2012 reveals growth in all
three dimensions of the economy, the environment and social cohesion
and, for 2011, generated the best result of the past six years. A
number of basic indicators for key individual aspects of
sustainability surpass their ten-year average, in some cases
significantly.

"The improvement in all three sustainability dimensions is the
result of rising employment, higher expenditures for education and
research since 2009 and of the energy turnaround," said Dr Jörg
Zeuner, Chief Economist of KfW Bankengruppe.

Economy: expenditures for education and research rise alongside
national income

Despite high sovereign debt and the expenses incurred in the wake
of the financial and euro crisis, in 2011 private and state
expenditures for education, research and development were able to be
kept at a high level. This was a major contributing factor to the
stable result in the dimension "economy" that is part of the KfW
sustainability indicator (slight increase by 0.1 to 0.9 points).
However the positive effect of net fixed capital formation on
economic sustainability masks the fact that in many parts of the
German economy the investment ratio has been declining for years.

Buoyed by positive developments in the labour market, private
consumption per capita increased by 1.7% in 2011 - its strongest
growth for eleven years.

Environment: energy turnaround has a positive impact

In the dimension of the environment a new high was achieved in
2011 (0.5 points). Of special note is that greenhouse gas emissions
were reduced considerably in 2011 despite a strong economy and the
shutdown of eight nuclear power plants. This drop in emissions is
attributable above all to greater use of renewable energies to 12.5%
of final energy consumption and to a rise in energy efficiency. Yet
intense efforts to implement the energy and climate goals will remain
necessary in the future as well. With regard to biodiversity,
however, the indicator has stagnated at the minimum value of -2.

Social cohesion: declining unemployment is boon to participation
and integration

The sustainability dimension of social cohesion improved the most,
rising by 0.6 points. This jump is due primarily to better education,
decreasing unemployment among non-German nationals and a marked
increase in participation in the political process. The share of
low-skilled workers (25- to 30-year-olds without a qualified degree)
has dropped considerably, although at around one fourth it is still
too high.

The complete results of and information on the KfW sustainability
indicator 2012 are available online under www.kfw.de/research (in
German only).

A chart on the sustainability indicator is available under
www.kfw.de/nachhaltigkeitsindikator (in German only).

KfW is modernising. A photo of the new logo can be downloaded
under www.kfw.de/logo.

Further information on the KfW brand relaunch is available under
www.bank-aus-verantwortung.de.

Pressekontakt:
KfW, Palmengartenstraße 5-9, 60325 Frankfurt
Kommunikation (KOM), Dr. Charis Pöthig,
Phone: +49 (0)69 7431 4400, Fax: +49 (0)69 7431-3266,
E-Mail: presse@kfw.de, Internet: www.kfw.de/newsroom