klimaVest in the independent assessmentRating, awards and market classification by scope

As a European rating agency, Scope Fund Analysis evaluates investment funds and asset managers independently. Among other things, the agency analyses the European ELTIF market annually in its own study and awards the Scope Awards together with Handelsblatt.

klimaVest has been regularly evaluated by Scope since its launch in 2020. On this page, you will find all publicly available scope assessments for klimaVest and Commerz Real in the Renewable Energies area in one place.

Scope Rating: How does Scope assess klimaVest as a fund?

Scope certifies a provisional fund rating of (P) a+ (AIF)to klimaVest. The rating agency therefore expects “a good risk-adjusted return”. ¹ The rating has been confirmed three times since August 2021, most recently in December 2024.

In addition to the fund rating, Scope evaluates the ongoing performance of klimaVest in the Asset Management Rating dated December 2025. The annual return of 4.0 percent (as at 31 December 2024) and 3.5 percent (as at 30 June 2025) is within the planned range of 3 to 4 percent p.a.⁵ Scope also states: “In the opinion of Scope, the currently linked assets are suitable for achieving the return level targeted for the fund.”¹

Purchasing also rates Scope positively: Six transactions worth around 500 million euros, including the stake in the transmission system operator Amprion, quickly converted the collected capital into tangible assets. The Agency shall take account of: “From a scope perspective, it was possible to secure further projects and existing assets with a good risk/return profile in a competitive market environment.”⁵

With regard to the financial structure, the fund still achieves “very high ratings” according to the scope.¹ The debt financing ratio is 13.9 percent at fund level and 29.7 percent at property level. As klimaVest invests exclusively in the eurozone and finances in a currency-congruent manner, there is no exchange rate risk. In addition, Scope welcomes the company’s efforts to position itself as a professional electricity trader and to build up the necessary know-how for this.¹

The fund rating dates back to the initial valuation in August 2021. At the time, Scope classified klimaVest as the “first open-ended fund for private investors that invested in tangible assets in the infrastructure sector and was launched as an impact fund in accordance with Article 9 of the Disclosure Regulation”.¹ During the confirmation in March 2023, the agency highlighted the “significantly increased” fund assets and the “very positively assessed” strategy-compliant transactions.⁶

What does the suffix (P) mean? Scope assigns a preliminary rating if a fund’s track record is not yet sufficient for a final rating. For a fund that is designed for at least 50 years and has only been on the market since 2020, this corresponds to the usual scope methodology. The rating a+ is in the upper range of the “good” level on the scope scale for alternative investment funds.

Scope Awards: 2020 for the idea, 2025 for market success

In November 2025, Scope awarded klimaVest the 2026 Award in the ELTIF Infrastructure - New Energy category.² The jury judged that the fund set 'standards': “As the first evergreen ELTIF in Europe, it was on the pulse of time with a successful timing in the low interest rate environment and its open structure, and developed into the market leader.” The fund meets “clients’ needs for flexibility and ongoing returns”. “The strong sales unit of the parent company made a significant contribution to sales success”.

Five years earlier, Scope had already awarded the fund once. At the 2020 Scope Awards, a few weeks after the fund was launched, klimaVest received the award in the special category Innovation. Scope thus recognised the first German private investor vehicle with an impact investment approach to tangible assets in the ELTIF shell.⁸ At the time, the fund volume was in the double-digit million range, and the portfolio consisted of a handful of wind and solar farms.

Asset management rating: AA for Commerz Real in the area of renewable energies

In addition to the fund rating, Scope also evaluates the asset manager behind klimaVest. Commerz Real AG has received the AA (AMR) rating in the Renewable Energies and Infrastructure segment continuously since 2014, last confirmed in December 2025. Scope thus certifies the company “a very good quality and competence in asset management” of infrastructure and renewable energy products.⁵

What the rating supports:

• The prospected return forecasts in the solar sector were exceeded in each year from 2015 to 2024, according to the scope.
• Assets under management in the segment grew above average at 26 percent in the one-year period and 20 percent in the three-year period.
• Commerz Real has been investing in solar energy since 2005 and in wind power since 2016. Today, it manages 61 solar power plants and over 44 onshore and offshore wind farms with a total rated output of more than 1.9 gigawatts.
• Scope highlights the “very good asset sourcing competence with high off-market quota”. As a result, many purchases are made through exclusive channels of access before the projects are offered publicly on the market.
• The technical competence in the area of renewable energies rates Scope as “above the industry average”.⁵

However, scope also identifies limiting factors. An increased staff turnover rate at company level, a remuneration structure with limited incentive for the alignment of interests in the investment team, scarcely staffed research and sustainability reporting at vehicle level that can still be expanded.⁵

klimaVest in the ELTIF market: Pioneering product with track record

The ELTIF market is growing rapidly. At the end of 2025, 268 ELTIFs were registered in Europe, 113 of which were launched in the same year alone.⁹ Most of these funds do not yet have audited performance over several years. Sonja Knorr from Scope formulates a clear recommendation: "Since you don't know in advance whether an ELTIF will be successful with its investments, investors should choose providers with a strong history. Such established companies have already proven that they can be successful even in difficult market phases."¹⁰

klimaVest is one of the few ELTIFs that meet both criteria. As one of the first ELTIFs ever, Scope assigned an individual fund rating to the “pioneering product” ¹⁰ in 2021 and has confirmed this rating three times since then.

The track record goes back to October 2020, with documented positive performance in every fiscal year to date. Despite the significant increase in the number of ELTIF providers, klimaVest combines 36.8 percent of the total German ELTIF volume according to the scope.⁹ In the ELTIF study 2026, scope: “At 1.6 billion euros at the end of 2025, klimaVest remains the largest ELTIF in Europe.”⁹