The Sustainability Score project by Zielke Rating has been awarded in the “Services – Finance” category at the German Sustainability Projects Award 2026. The official award ceremony took place in Berlin on September 17, 2026.
The German Sustainability Projects Award recognizes projects that make concrete contributions to a more sustainable future. The award focuses on innovative and impactful projects in the fields of environment, business and society. Submitted projects are assessed by an independent jury comprising experts from business, academia and politics, with particular consideration given to quality, innovative strength and impact.
The Sustainability Score project was recognized by the jury in particular for its approach to addressing concrete challenges in the financial market. In its assessment, the jury highlighted a lack of transparency in the financial market and the risks of greenwashing. It also recognized the combination of a DIN standard and a public data basis as an innovative approach.
The DIN 77236-2 assesses the sustainability performance of financial products according to a standardized procedure. The resulting Sustainability Score is designed to provide simple and quick orientation and to make the sustainability characteristics of financial products easier to compare.
These aspects are at the heart of the project: creating greater transparency and improving the comparability of sustainability performance in the financial market.
At the same time, the jury recommends significantly broa der market adoption in order to further strengthen the relevance of the Sustainability Score across the industry. A standard can provide its greatest benefit when it is widely applied. Zielke Rating therefore welcomes this recommendation and aims to further advance the application of the Sustainability Score in the financial market.
The award recognizes an approach based on standardized assessment and publicly available data to make the sustainability characteristics of financial products more transparent and comparable.
The German Sustainability Projects Award recognizes projects that make concrete contributions to a more sustainable future. The award focuses on innovative and impactful projects in the fields of environment, business and society. Submitted projects are assessed by an independent jury comprising experts from business, academia and politics, with particular consideration given to quality, innovative strength and impact.
The Sustainability Score project was recognized by the jury in particular for its approach to addressing concrete challenges in the financial market. In its assessment, the jury highlighted a lack of transparency in the financial market and the risks of greenwashing. It also recognized the combination of a DIN standard and a public data basis as an innovative approach.
The DIN 77236-2 assesses the sustainability performance of financial products according to a standardized procedure. The resulting Sustainability Score is designed to provide simple and quick orientation and to make the sustainability characteristics of financial products easier to compare.
These aspects are at the heart of the project: creating greater transparency and improving the comparability of sustainability performance in the financial market.
At the same time, the jury recommends significantly broa der market adoption in order to further strengthen the relevance of the Sustainability Score across the industry. A standard can provide its greatest benefit when it is widely applied. Zielke Rating therefore welcomes this recommendation and aims to further advance the application of the Sustainability Score in the financial market.
The award recognizes an approach based on standardized assessment and publicly available data to make the sustainability characteristics of financial products more transparent and comparable.
