The programme, which Deutsche Bank currently offers in Europe but aims to expand to other countries, gives Henkel's suppliers a discount on costs of financing in the supply chain according to their ESG rating.

Judging corporate performance on issues related to climate change and social justice is a growing area of investment, but there is still much debate about the criteria that need to be used for such evaluation.

On Wednesday, S&P Dow Jones Indices removed electric carmaker Tesla from the widely followed S&P 500 ESG Index because of issues including claims of racial discrimination and crashes linked to its autopilot vehicles.

(Reporting by Zuzanna Szymanska Editing by Miranda Murray and Mark Potter)