Past SSF Events 2024
SSF/Global Canopy Webinar: Getting Started with Deforestation Risks in Investment Portfolios
This webinar, held in partnership with Global Canopy, highlighted the importance of considering deforestation risks in investment decisions. After a short introduction by Veronica Baker, Project Manager, SSF, Helen Beddow, Education and Learning Director, Global Canopy, provided an overview of deforestation as a material consideration and introduced various tools for assessing deforestation risk. Vemund Olsen, Senior Sustainability Analyst, Storebrand Asset Management AS, and Kiran Sehra, Biodiversity Analyst, Aviva Investors, then presented case studies on how they integrate such tools and assess deforestation risks in their investment decisions within their respective companies.
Swiss Sustainable Lending Market Study Launch Event
The event focused on the first Swiss Sustainable Lending Market Study, which was published on the same day in collaboration with ZHAW. After welcoming remarks by Sabine Döbeli, CEO, SSF, and Beat Affolter, Professor & Head of Corporate Performance and Sustainable Financing, ZHAW, the lead authors of the study, Hendrik Kimmerle, Senior Project Manager, SSF, and Andreas Schweizer, Senior Lecturer in Corporate Banking & Sustainable Financing, ZHAW, presented the main findings. These included among others, the types of exclusions used by banks, the main motivations for sustainable lending and the current range of green, social and sustainability-linked loans.
To provide practical insights, Thomas Fonk, Head of Relationship Management Corporate & Large Clients, Basler Kantonalbank, and Lukas Gisiger, Client Advisor Multinationals, UBS Switzerland AG, presented their banks' approaches to sustainable lending. This was followed by a panel discussion with Regula Hess, Lead Financial Sector Engagement, WWF Switzerland. The audience was able to ask questions via Slido, sparking an interesting discussion on sustainable lending issues and the different views of the panelists.
Carbon Markets and Their Role in the Transition to a Climate Aligned Economy
At this event, jointly organised by SSF and Università della Svizzera italiana (USI), alongside the Lugano Commodity Trading Association, which was held as a hybrid event, in person in Lugano and online, leading carbon market experts provided different perspectives on the role of carbon markets in the transition to a climate aligned economy.
After the welcome note by Alberto Stival, Director Ticino, SSF, Prof. Eric Nowak, USI, first provided an overview on the role of compliance and voluntary carbon markets and key players of the ecosystem. He highlighted challenges of such instruments, that are similar for both systems but illustrated how they do effectively contribute to the reduction of carbon emissions, despite existing shortcomings of the systems. Margaret Kim, CEO, The Gold Standard, explained the value chain of carbon markets and the roles of the different players and stressed the importance of uniform standards to improve quality of credits. She showed concrete examples of how carbon projects not only remove carbon but also improve the livelihood of communities in target countries. Francesco Taddei, Senior Manager for Carbon Projects & Trading, Southpole, then illustrated how carbon credits can not only drive emission reductions, but also serve as a tool for scalability and can support sustainable development.
After the break, Sergio P. Ermotti, Group CEO and President of the Executive Board of UBS Group AG, illustrated the bank’s approach to climate finance being implemented across all business segments. He made clear that besides more incentives, the market also needs more rules and clearer frameworks for effective carbon markets. In the consecutive panel discussion with Peter Zonneveld, CEO, DTX Climate Solutions, Stefano Borghi, Chairman, Arborify and Volker Schieck, Lead, Sustainable Finance Group, UBS Group AG, the speakers debated the role of carbon trading, a market that is far less standardised than commodity trading. They agreed that bringing together voluntary and compliance markets would help improve and align standards and accelerate growth, leading to the faster implementation of much needed emission reduction projects. In her closing note, Sabine Döbeli, CEO, SSF, made clear that this event was only the starting point for a continued exchange between industry experts, academics and stakeholders, a dialogue that needs to continue to strengthen the credibility and effectiveness of carbon markets in Switzerland and internationally.
An article in Corriere del Ticino provided a summary of the event: https://www.cdt.ch/news/economia/un-prezzo-sulle-emissioni-per-la-neutralita-climatica-346713
SSF/GCNSL Getting Started with the TNFD Framework Webinar
At this joint webinar with the UN Global Compact Network for Switzerland and Liechtenstein, with whom we co-convene the Swiss TNFD Consultation Group, we hosted a one hour webinar on getting started with the TNFD Framework. After an introduction to the importance of nature and the structure of the TNFD Framework by Veronica Baker, Project Manager at SSF and Fabienne Sigg, Programme Manager at UN Global Compact Network for Switzerland and Liechtenstein, two case studies outlined their progresss in using the TNFD framework. From Novartis, Barbara Vrede, Head Strategy, Sustainability and ESG and Cameron Borhani, Senior Strategy Manager, presented their intial use of the LEAP approach to understand the nature impacts upstream and for direct operations. From UBS, Judson Berkey, Managing Director, Group Head Engagement and Regulatory Strategy, shared how UBS has begun measuring nature risk exposures alongside those for climate.
SSF Derivatives in Sustainable Investing Webinar
The webinar accompanied the new SSF Spotlight publication, published on 11 December, titled “The Role of Derivatives in Sustainable Investing", which contains guidance on how to align the use of derivatives with sustainability objectives. In this webinar Prof. Dr. Peter Schwendner, Head of the Institute of Wealth & Asset Management, ZHAW School of Management and Law and Dr. Hendrik Kimmerle, Senior Project Manager at SSF, will present the findings of the report. Industry expert Dr. Luca Henzen, Head Derivatives and Structured Products Research at UBS AG (Global Wealth Mangement) will share his perspective on portfolio implementation of derivatives and structured products. Slides and recording are available for SSF members.
