The real estate sector plays a significant role in the green transition of society, and at Danske Bank Group, it accounts for a large part of the bank's total loan portfolio.

Thus, Danske Bank has entered into two new partnerships, which, along with the bank's advisory services and financing solutions, will help customers to reduce the CO2 emissions from their properties.

“At Danske Bank, we aim to be the best financial partner, supporting our customers in their sustainability transition. This is emphasized by the new partnerships, which enable us to offer our customers a comprehensive customer journey that includes everything from automated collection of energy data and development of energy improvement plans to strategic sparring and access to financing,” says Linda Fagerlund, head of Commercial Real Estate at Danske Bank.

This viewpoint is shared by Bjarne Jørgensen, head of Large Real Estate and member of the Executive Board at Realkredit Denmark.

“The real estate sector plays a crucial role in reducing CO2 emissions from buildings. Therefore, we see the new partnerships as a strong offering that helps our customers reduce energy consumption in their properties and contributes significantly to the green transition of society,” says Bjarne Jørgensen.

Real-time energy and emission data
The first part of the new customer journey is about making the collection of energy data easier. This is where the climate tech company, comundo, comes into the picture. They have developed a digital solution that automatically collects a property's energy consumption and CO2 footprint.

“For many property owners, calculating CO2e data is both an inconvenient and time-consuming task that involves chasing invoices from energy companies, identifying data points, and manual calculations,” explains Thomas Gaunø Ibsen, Director of Sales & Customer Success at comundo, and adds:

“We therefore created a plug-and-play solution that can provide access to real-time energy and emissions data from any kind of property. We integrate directly with energy sources and suppliers, making it easy and clear for property companies and businesses to easily access energy data from their buildings.”

Thomas Gaunø Ibsen also mentions that customers of Danske Bank and Realkredit Danmark are exempt from the onboarding fee and receive a discount on the software solution.

Energy Optimization of Properties
While comundo can provide an overview of energy and emissions data, Sweco can offer Danske Bank customers a tailor-made action plan with recommendations for specific energy improvements.

"At Sweco, we are transforming society together with our clients on a daily basis. For property owners, we provide future-proof solutions that make properties less energy-demanding. Our consultants are ready to develop a plan with specific, operational improvements that optimize the buildings' energy consumption and energy performance certificates while also meeting future sustainability requirements," says Dariush Rezai, CEO of Sweco Denmark.

Financing Energy Improvements
In the final step of the customer journey, Danske Bank is ready with strategic financial sparring and access to financing so that the action plans can be transformed into concrete energy improvements.

“All our advisors are trained within ESG, and they are therefore ready to be a sparring partner and assist with financing when it's time to put the action plans into practice and optimise the properties' energy consumption,” says Linda Fagerlund.