FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - The environmental organization Greenpeace protested on Thursday morning in front of the headquarters of the Deutsche Bank fund company DWS Investment in Frankfurt. With 25 red oil drums, banners and protective suits, the activists wanted to send a signal against the company's investment policy. According to Greenpeace, around 200 liters of oil-like molasses ran out of the barrels and the banners read "No money for climate killers!", among other things.

In a study published on Thursday, Greenpeace examined the investments of the four largest fund companies in Germany in fossil fuel companies. According to Greenpeace, DWS came in last place in the industry comparison when it came to implementing promised climate protection measures. "It is shocking that nine years after the adoption of the Paris Climate Agreement, not a single one of the asset managers examined has a Paris-compliant investment policy and the worst climate sinners are being blithely financed," said Greenpeace financial expert Mauricio Vargas.

The Deutsche Bank fund subsidiary DWS has long been accused of selling so-called green financial products as "greener" than they actually are - in other words, "greenwashing". It was only at the beginning of February that the public prosecutor's office searched the premises of DWS. The first search in connection with the allegations had taken place in May 2022. DWS had always denied the "greenwashing" allegations. In June 2022, the head was replaced: Asoka Wohrmann was replaced by Stefan Hoops from Deutsche Bank.

There had also been frequent Greenpeace protests about the alleged greenwashing: In June 2023, activists from the environmental protection organization climbed onto the canopy of the Deutsche Bank twin towers in Frankfurt and unfurled a banner measuring around 100 square meters with the inscription "DWS verpflichten, Klima schützen!"/lfo/DP/men