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Reluctant transformers: The institutional logics of German savings banks climate finance

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  • Klüh, Ulrich
  • Naji, Ilias

Abstract

What defines the role of public savings banks("Sparkassen") in tackling the socio-ecological challenges related to planetary boundaries, such as climate change and loss of biodiversity? A clear answer to this question is still lacking, in spite of that fact that the German Sparkassen have recently become more ambitious with respect to their role in the sustainability transformation. Taking these recent developments into account, we provide a qualitative empirical analysis of the institutional logics that shape the savings banks' response to repeated calls to deepen their involvement in ecological sustainability efforts. We argue that the lack of transformative potential that many observers have criticized is due to a specific combination of institutional logics, that emphasize compliance, competitiveness and controlling activities. Moreover, savings banks appear to be following a strategy of conservative transformation, consistent with the approaches they have followed in recent decades, to survive in a climate hostile to public ownership of financial institutions and relationship banking. We observe tendencies to make climate finance a vehicle to become relationship-orientated again, and identify the obstacles standing in the way of such a twist.

Suggested Citation

  • Klüh, Ulrich & Naji, Ilias, 2025. "Reluctant transformers: The institutional logics of German savings banks climate finance," ZNWU Discussion Papers 15, Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences, Darmstadt Business School, Center for Sustainable Economic and Corporate Policy (SECP).
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:znwudp:316457
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Savings Banks; Climate Finance; Sustainability; Institutional Logics; Financialization;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • B15 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought through 1925 - - - Historical; Institutional; Evolutionary
    • B25 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought since 1925 - - - Historical; Institutional; Evolutionary; Austrian; Stockholm School
    • B26 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought since 1925 - - - Financial Economics
    • B52 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Current Heterodox Approaches - - - Historical; Institutional; Evolutionary; Modern Monetary Theory;
    • E02 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General - - - Institutions and the Macroeconomy
    • E58 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - Central Banks and Their Policies
    • N2 - Economic History - - Financial Markets and Institutions

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