The signals are green for sustainable finance, both in Switzerland and elsewhere. Just one week ago, the Swiss National Bank and FINMA joined the Network for Greening the Financial System. They thereby aim to become part of the dialogue on how the financial system is affected by environmental risks and how it can help mitigate them, a step that we highly welcome. Switzerland further saw 9 parliamentary interventions related to sustainable finance submitted during the spring session. It will be important to bring the technical know-how of sustainable finance specialists into these discussions, in order to ensure a Swiss framework that facilitates mainstreaming of sustainable finance.

The EU Commission held a high-level conference on sustainable finance in March, one year after the Action Plan on financing sustainable growth was launched. The strong turnout and the impressive inputs by speakers, such as Mark Carney and some of the largest institutional investors in the world, made clear that sustainable finance will soon be the new norm. Moreover, the IFC formally launched its Operating Principles for Impact Management  – 11 of the 58 initial signatories are SSF members!

In the meantime, SSF is in the process of finalising its market study: in a month’s time we’ll see how these important trends are reflected in sustainable investment figures.

Kind regards,

Sabine Döbeli

CEO Swiss Sustainable Finance

SSF activities

Regulatory and market news

SSF and sustainable finance in the media

New members joining SSF

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New reports & studies

New SSF "Focus" publication

Geneva event on ESG integration with CFA Society Switzerland

SSF at EU high level conference on sustainable finance

FC4S further presented the findings of the Digital Green Finance study, where Switzerland ranked the highest, and presented the State of Play Report 2019, based on the FC4S assessment of sustainable finance action in different financial centres.

SSF e-learning tool in English, German and French

Ongoing dialogue with global Index Providers on Controversial Weapons Exclusions

Since February, SSF has been in dialogue with many index providers discussing the request to exclude controversial weapons from mainstream indices. The initiative has now gained 168 signatories representing USD 9 trillion and is still open for further signatories. Interested organisations can sign up on the SSF website.

SSF partners with SwissFoundations for asset owner workshop on the impact of investments

On 1 April, SSF and SwissFoundations launched the jointly organized workshop series "Heading for Impact". The first workshop offered representatives from foundations and other asset owners an entry point into impact-oriented investment.

Read more about these and other SSF activities

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Swiss news

• In the third edition of the Global Green Finance Index, Swiss centres improved strongly, with Zurich now in second place and Geneva up by nine places to rank 15.
• The Swiss National Bank and the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority FINMA joined the Network for Greening the Financial System, which was founded in 2017 and now encompasses 36 central banks and supervisors. The Swiss membership signals the willingness of the two institutions to actively join the debate on how to tackle systemic risks resulting from climate change and other environmental challenges.
• In the Swiss Parliament’s spring session, 9 parliamentary interventions were submitted on the topic of sustainable finance. Among them, motion 19.3259 calls for an action plan on sustainable finance, postulate 19.3127 requires the Federal Council to assess how the competitiveness of the Swiss financial market can be ensured in light of international developments in sustainability, and interpellation 19.3114 questions the effectiveness of voluntary measure for climate in finance.
• The Swiss Association for Responsible Investments SVVK-ASIR published Guidelines on the Paris Agreement, identifying how members can implement the Paris Agreement in their engagement process.
• A new study published by WWF Switzerland and PwC assessed that the EU Action Plan will drive a paradigm shift in Swiss financial markets. This offers the Swiss financial sector significant business opportunities, but only if the industry and the Swiss government engage proactively to the new EU rules.
• The pension fund of the canton of Basel-Landschaft announced an SRI strategy for its CHF 9.4bn assets, to be finalized and implemented in the course of 2019.

International initiatives

• The first set of legislative measures of the EU Action Plan on financing sustainable growth took significant steps forward in the past two months: New categories of low-carbon benchmarks and new disclosure requirements passed through the EU Parliament and Council of the EU on 25 February and 7 March respectively. A legislative proposal regarding the sustainability taxonomy, the cornerstone of the Action Plan, was accepted by the EU Parliament on 28 March but must still be discussed by the Council of the EU.
• In the 2018 global review, the Global Sustainable Investment Alliance (GSIA) found that socially responsible investment worldwide stood at $30.7 trillion at the start of 2018, a 34% increase in two years.
• The IFC Operating Principles for Impact Management have been finalized and were officially launched on April 12^th at the World Bank Spring Meeting in Washington DC. 11 out of the 58 signatories are SSF members.
• The members of the Network for Greening the Financial System met in Paris on April 17^th, where they called for collective action and presented recommendations on financial risks climate-related financial risks.
• The UNEP FI’s Principles for Responsible Insurance and Allianz-led initiative is calling for feedback on global guidance for the non life-insurance industry on integrating sustainability.The consultation period is open until 30 June 2019.
• The TCFD-based strategy and governance indicators in the PRI Reporting Framework are to become mandatory for PRI signatories from 2020.
• Australia’s major financial players have set up the Australian Sustainable Finance Initiative. The new initiative aims to launch a roadmap by 2020 for realigning the finance sector to greater social, environmental and economic outcomes.
• The French government has announced that it will issue International Climate Reporting Awards to investors who best capture the climate urgency and associated reporting requirements.

Market trends

• With AGM season underway, multiple shareholder votes and resolutions related to climate change and other environmental issues were submitted to large energy companies. While ExxonMobil blocked a shareholder resolution, other companies such as Equinor, Shell or BP supported proposals filed by large investor coalitions.
• Norway's sovereign fund announced that it would reduce its holding in oil stocks and divest from firms that explore for oil and gas. This divestment does not include big oil companies, but nevertheless sends a clear message to the oil and gas industry.
• The Dutch Central Bank is the first central bank to join PRI, making a strong signal that capacity building on the financial materiality of ESG issues is viewed as a priority by central banks.
• In a letter to the International Energy Agency’s (IAE), leading investors and scientists have criticized the IAE’s climate models a being too fossil-fuel friendly and have called for a new model that would line up with 1.5° C of warming.
• The New Zealand superannuation fund has excluded companies involved in the manufacture of civilian automatic and semi-automatic firearms, reflecting the passing of the Arms Amendment Bill in the wake of the Christchurch massacre.
• The credit rating agency Moody’ s acquired a major stake in ESG research company Vigeo Eiris, as part of its objective to promote global standards for ESG for use by market participants.

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• 24 April 2019, CNN Money Switzerland, Switzerland still top when it comes to sustainable finance
• 17 April 2019, RTS Info, La BNS fait un petit pas vers des investissements respectueux au climat
• 16 April 2019, NZZ, Gibt es seine Lücke im Risikomanagement der SNB?
• 15 April 2019, SRF Börse, SRF Börse vom 15.04.2019
• 10 April 2019, CNN Money Switzerland, Special debate: Is Switzerland’s financial industry really going green? (featuring SSF CEO Sabine Döbeli)
• 9 April 2019, RTS Info, La finance durable devient un acte politique majeur. Les places financières s’y préparent.
• 4 April, Tagesschau.de, Fonds sollen Waffenhersteller verbannen
• 2 April 2019, Aargauer Zeitung, Klimawandel: Jetzt gerät die Finanzbranche unter Druck - Schweizer Finanzplatz soll grüner werden
• 25 March 2019, Tagesanzeiger, Blackrock fordert Bilanzstandard für Umweltrisiken
• 22 March 2019, Le Temps, Les gérants suisses délaissent les critères de durabilité
• 22 March 2019, Finanz und Wirtschaft, «Nachhaltig anlegen» wird nachhaltig
• 19 March 2019, Investrends, Schweizer Pensionskassen sind Treiber für nachhaltige Anlagen
• 14 March 2019, Handelszeitung, Interview with Patrick Odier
• 26 February 2019, NZZ, Was den Anlegern aus Brüssel blüht
• 20 Feburary 2019, Borsa Italia, Oltre 140 investitori hanno chiesto ai principali index provider di escludere le società coinvolte nel mercato delle armi controverse

Visit our website for more articles and regular updates

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We are happy to welcome the following organisations to our network:

The full list of our members and network partners, now totalling 122, can be found on the SSF Website.

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Save the date for upcoming SSF events

• 10 May 2019, SSF member workshop, Investor Roundtable on Sustainable Finance Policy, Zurich (SSF members and network partners only)
• 13 May 2019, SSF and City of Zurich, Nachhaltigkeit und technologischer Wandel – zwei Trends, eine Chance für den Finanzplatz Zürich?, Zurich
• 3 June, 2019, SSF, Launch of 2019 Swiss Sustainable Investment Market Study, Zurich
• 4 June, 2019, SSF, Launch of 2019 Swiss Sustainable Investment Market Study, Geneva
• 19 June 2019, SSF, Annual Conference 2019: Transformation towards a future-proof financial system, Bern – Check out program and speakers on the event website – Please note: Invitations for the Annual Conference will be sent out next week and the registration form will be activated simultaneously

More information on the SSF website.

Other events

• 9 May 2019, Nachhaltig Investieren 2019, Zurich
• 14 May 2019, Workshop Sustainable Finance, Vaduz
• 15-16 May 2019, Global Impact Investment Strategy Conference, Geneva
• 20 May 2019, New Energy Investor Summit, Zurich
• 21-22 May 2019, Stiftungssymposium/Symposium des Fondations, Thun (includes a workshop on "Blended finance – the new impact trigger?" on 21 May)
• 23 May 2019, Geneva forum for sustainable investment, Geneva
• 23-24 May 2019, St. Gallen Forum for Management of Renewable Energies, St. Gallen
• 12-13 June 2019, TBLI Conference Europe 2019, Zurich (SSF members and network partners receive discount)

Academic programmes and opportunities

• The University of Zurich’s executive training programme Sustainable Investing in Wealth Management programme will take place again from 13-14 June 2019.
• As part of this year’s global "Ethics and Trust in Finance Prize", students in insurance and finance and young professionals can participate in the essay writing competition for financial services (prize money of USD 20’000). The deadline for handing papers is the 30 of June 2019.

Further events are listed on the SSF website

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• April 2019: The 2018 Global Sustainable Investment Review published by the Global Sustainable Investment Alliance (GSIA) found that global sustainable assets have reached USD 30.7 trillion and thus grown by 34% in two years.
• April 2019: The Network for Greening the Financial System released its first comprehensive report, issuing six concrete recommendations to facilitate the role of the financial sector in achieving the objectives of the Paris agreement.
• April 2019: The Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN) published the Sizing the Impact Investing Market report, which analyzes the current size and composition of this market.
• April 2019: Are pension funds actively decarbonizing their portfolios? This question was studied by researchers from the Netherlands, which found that pension funds that deviate from market benchmark weights have substantially lower carbon footprints.
• March 2019: WWF Switzerland and PwC discussed the economic and legal impacts of the EU Action Plan on the Swiss financial sector. The report assessed that the Swiss financial sector runs the risk of losing market access if Switzerland does not take prompt action.
• March 2019: FC4S launched its State of Play Report 2019, looking at how the world’s leading financial centres are entering into a new phase of strategic action on green and sustainable finance.
• March 2019: A new CFA Institute and PRI report highlights best practices in ESG integration across the EMEA Region (Europe, Middle East and Africa). The study is part of a report series on ESG integration.
• February 2019: Holders of Last Resort: The Role of Index Funds and Index Providers in Divestment and Climate Change, published by researchers at the University of Edinburgh, sets out how passive funds can make a contribution to mitigate climate change.

Read these and other reports in our Digital Library on Sustainable Finance

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