Shaping the future

Responsibility at DPE

ESG stands for Environmental, Social and Governance and refers to the three key categories by which companies and investments are assessed for sustainability and social responsibility.

GHG Emissions

Environment

We calculate our operational carbon footprint annually in cooperation with an external partner based on the Greenhouse Gas Protocol. The calculation comprises direct emissions (Scope 1), emissions from purchased energy (Scope 2), and selected indirect emission categories (Scope 3): business travel, employee commuting, remote working, catering, external data centres, and office supplies. The emissions of our portfolio companies are not included in this footprint – these are collected individually in a separate process.

Equal Opportunities & Diversity

Social

As part of our equal opportunities and integration policy, we have set ourselves the goal of continuously increasing the proportion of female managers. Salaries are determined solely by objective criteria such as experience and position.

We have joined Level 20 to actively promote diversity and inclusion, particularly by supporting greater representation of women in leadership positions. Level 20’s pan-European network and commitment to sharing best practices align with our values of partnership, responsibility, and sustainable growth. By doing so, we aim to foster innovation, talent development, and a more inclusive corporate culture, while further developing our professional and organisational capabilities. Several mentors from our senior team are already actively involved, and a growing number of colleagues have registered to participate.

For more information, please visit Level20

Transparency

Governance

We have designed our principles and guidelines for governance and risk management to create greater transparency and contribute to the ongoing development of our business processes. This minimises risks and strengthens the personal responsibility of our employees. The following functions at Deutsche Private Equity ensure compliance:

• Chief Risk Officer
  
• Compliance Officer
  
• Risk Controller
  
• ICT Risk Controller*
  
• Data Protection Officer*
  
• Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Officer
  
• ESG Officer
  
• Business Continuity / Emergency Response Officer
  
• Outsourcing Officer
  
• Internal Audit*

*Outsourced functions

Responsibility in the portfolio

Responsible and sustainable investing has been a key consideration for us ever since Deutsche Private Equity was established. We aim to identify and minimise all sustainability and ESG risks as early as possible.

We support our portfolio companies in seizing the opportunities offered by the transformation towards a more resource-efficient and resilient economy and in managing the associated risks. At the same time, we help them to navigate regulatory requirements – with targeted expertise, best practices and access to our network of experts.

To this end, we assess the non-financial performance of our portfolio companies using annual reporting of sustainability-related data, an internal maturity rating, and environmental factors (including GHG emissions and energy consumption), social factors (including staff turnover and absenteeism), and governance factors (including availability of good business conduct policies). This data-driven approach enables our companies to measure their progress and develop in a targeted manner, as reflected in their annual maturity score.

GHG Emissions

For all active portfolio companies with an investment date from June 2017 onwards, we determine greenhouse gas emissions individually based on the GHG Protocol by an external expert. The following table summarises these results in an aggregated format. The metrics are collected and published at the DPE Investment Gesellschaft mbH level as part of our UN PRI membership. Fund-specific sustainability metrics are not considered in the respective investment decision-making process and are not publicly reported for the corresponding funds.

The financed Scope 1 to 3 emissions of the total portfolio amounted to approximately 114 kt CO2e in 2025, compared to approximately 152 kt CO2e in the prior year. When interpreting the year-on-year change, it should be noted that the comparability of Scope 3 figures is limited due to portfolio changes and evolving data foundations. We also note that these disclosures are made on a voluntary basis and have not been audited by an independent third party.

Climate Risks

The annual climate risk screening examines transition risks as well as physical risks for all active portfolio companies. At the end of 2025, the analysis covered a total of 147 operational sites worldwide.

Physical risks are assessed against five climate hazards (heat, flash floods, river floods, drought, and wind) based on Copernicus C3S climate data. This assessment considers two emission scenarios (SSP2-4.5 and SSP5-8.5) as well as two time horizons (2021–2040 and 2041–2070). Transition risks, in turn, are rated on a scale of 1–4 based on the four TCFD drivers (Policy & Legal, Technology, Market, and Reputation).

The current screening indicates that transition risks across the portfolio are predominantly low; physical risks are mostly moderate, with heat stress emerging as the most relevant individual hazard. No company shows concurrently elevated physical and transition risks. Risk scores are indicative, based on available data and internal expert judgement, and have not been audited by an independent third party.

Our commitment

We take our social responsibility seriously and are involved in aid projects for charitable organizations in a variety of ways.