Two 4-letter acronyms received great attention in the financial world in the past two months.

After a year of intense work, the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosure (TCFD) released its report with recommendations on how to best report financially material climate risks and opportunities in December 2016. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) also recently gained new support from the finance community with several organisations announcing initiatives to better link their investment activities to the SDGs.

SSF started the year with our first ever event in Lausanne. The launch event of the handbook on sustainable investments for Swiss institutional asset owners in Romandie brought together 100 professionals, confirming the importance of such a publication in French.

We currently see no lack of momentum for sustainable finance! We will focus our next activities, in the form of publications and events, on the role of sustainable investing for Swiss private banking. We wish you an interesting read and look forward to reconnecting at one of our upcoming events.

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

Save these dates

New reports & studies

Varia from our network

Presentation of SSF handbook in Romandie

Keynote speaker Prof. Jacques-André Schneider (Professor of Law, University of Lausanne) illustrated the evolution of responsible investment in the US using the example of TIAA-CREF, a large pension fund the size of the entire second pillar market of Switzerland. Jean Laville (Deputy CEO, SSF) then gave more detailed insights into the SSF handbook and emphasized that this comprehensive publication can be used by institutional asset owners to help them take a stance in the area of sustainable finance. The three panellists, Anne Gloor (Founder and Board Member, PeaceNexus Foundation), Pascale Pfeiffer (Head of Sustainability and Art, Mobiliar) and Jean-Rémy Roulet (President, Swiss Pension Fund Association (ASIP)) then shared their experiences with the setup of their own sustainable investment policies and agreed that the handbook is useful for many different investors, providing hands-on advice for different levels of implementation.

Read more and download the presentations from the event.

SSF Member webinar on TCFD and feedback on public consultation

SSF gave its members the opportunity to hear first-hand from Andreas Spiegel (Head Group Sustainability Risk, Swiss Re, and member TCFD) about the content of this important report and its consequences for the financial sector. In SSF’s first Member Webinar, Andreas provided background information on the process in defining the relevant key-performance indicators and best ways to use them in financial decision making. SSF submitted its feedback to the TCFD public consultation, which it drafted in collaboration with interested members and network partners. On 7-8 July 2017, the FSB will present the final report at the G20 Summit.

View SSF's response to the public consultation

SSF moderates expert panel at Finanz'17

Matt Christensen (Global Head Responsible Investment, AXA Investment Managers), Ben Constable-Maxwell (Corporate Finance & Stewardship, M&G Equities), Andrew Howard (Head of Sustainable Research, Schroders), René Nicolodi (Head of Equities & Themes, Swisscanto Invest by Zürcher Kantonalbank) and Isabelle Rucart (Leader Impact Investing, iShares) saw strong dynamics in ESG investing while they emphasized that to be successful in this booming field, a change in corporate culture is indispensable.

See other events and discussions where SSF took part

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Below you find some of the most prominent topics from the last 2 months.

Swiss news

• The State Secretariat for International Financial Matters (SIF)’s report on international financial and tax matters 2017 states that sustainability in the area of finance is becoming ever more important, both worldwide and for the Swiss financial centre. Hence, Green Finance would offer growth and diversification opportunities to financial services providers. (available in DE, FR, IT and EN)
• The recommendations of the Green Economy Dialogue Impulse Group, in the report “GO FOR IMPACT – Shaping the Future of the Swiss Economy”, identify an innovative financial sector as necessary to support investments in sustainable products and services and dedicated project partnerships between business and science.

International initiatives

• The United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI), with the support of nearly 20 leading global banks and investors, worth $6.6 trillion in assets, launched “The Principles for Positive Impact Finance – A Common Framework to Finance the SDGs”. They are a set of high-level guidelines, designed to "provide a common yet flexible framework for the business and finance community to identify and develop positive impact activities, entities and projects".
• The EC has announced the composition of the High-Level Expert Group on sustainable finance. It is chaired by Christian Thimann, Group Head of Regulation, Sustainability and Insurance Foresight of AXA (also served as Vice-Chair of the FSB’s TCFD). By the end of 2017, the 20 policy leaders from civil society, the finance sector and academia are expected to provide recommendations for a comprehensive EU strategy on sustainable finance as part of the Capital Markets Union.
• To help bring investors and innovators together in the transition to a circular economy, the EC has partnered with the European Investment Bank (EIB) to establish the Circular Economy Finance Support Platform.

Market trends

• The Swiss Stock Exchange (SIX Swiss Exchange) and Ethos Foundation launched the “Ethos Swiss Corporate Governance Index (ESCGI)” – the first index dedicated to corporate governance at Swiss companies on the Swiss stock market.
• The Thun Group of Banks has released a new Discussion Paper on how the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights should be applied in corporate & investment banking.
• Deutsche Bank has amended its guidelines for coal financing outlining that it will not grant new investments and gradually reduce its existing exposure.
• The London Stock Exchange (LSE) Group launched its “LSE Guidance to ESG Reporting”. The member of the UN Sustainable Stock Exchange initiative (SSE) thereby aims to establish guidance on how companies can provide effective ESG reporting for use in investment decisions.
• Following Poland, the first European sovereign to issue a green bond, France’s green bond issue in January 2017 was the largest by a Euro-zone sovereign so far. The deal was a €7bn 22-year green bond issued by Agence France Trésor (AFT) and it has already been oversubscribed more than three times, drawing €23bn of demand.
• At the WEF Annual Meeting 2017 under the theme “Responsive and Responsible Leadership”, “Align17”, a WEF Young Global Leaders initiative to create an investing and philanthropic platform focused on addressing SDG funding gaps, was launched. It is already receiving broad support by major institutions such as UBS.

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• 20 January 2017, BZ Berner Zeitung, Pensionskassen springen auf den Ökozug auf
• 17 January 2017, L'Agefi, L'investissement responsable ne cesse de progresser en Suisse
• 29 December 2016, NZZ, Weniger Gleichgültigkeit in den Portfolios von Schweizer Pensionskassen
• 22 December 2016, Le Temps, Roland Dominicé, de Symbiotics: "La microfinance est entraint de sortir de sa niche"
• 11 December 2016, Le Temps, La finance durable se développe très rapidement
• December 2016/Januar 2017, Schweizer Monat, Eine Chance für den Schweizer Finanzplatz

Visit our website for regularly updated articles on SSF and sustainable finance

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We welcome the following organisations as new SSF members or network partners:

Upcoming SSF Events

• Zurich, 22 March 2017, 10.00 – 13.30, Sustainable Investing: A Unique Opportunity for Swiss Private Wealth Management. Launch event for our publication containing 10 arguments for client advisors and for a short film on this topic. Key-note by Mr. Herbert Scheidt, President Swiss Bankers Association.
• Lugano, 10 April 2017, 17.30 – 19.00, Launch event for SSF handbook in Ticino, including different presentations and an expert panel.
• Bern, 13 June 2017, SSF public side event to Members’ Assembly. Key note by Doris Leuthard, President of the Swiss Confederation for 2017.

More details and registration soon on our website

Other Events

• Zurich, 27 February 2017, Forum Nachhaltige Geldanlagen (FNG) Dialogue on Sustainable Funds
• Zurich, 15-16 March 2017, Social Investor Meeting on Responsible Inclusive Finance 2017 - Register online
• Zurich, 29 March 2017, The Business Case for Sustainable Property: GRESB Event with Credit Suisse and Siemens
• Zurich, 3-4 May 2017, Responsible Finance & Investment Summit 2017
• Zurich, 22-23 May 2017, 7th New Energy Investor Summit
• Geneva, 1 June 2017, Geneva Forum For Sustainable Investment (co-event by Voxia Communications and Conser Invest and in partnership with Sustainable Finance Geneva and SSF)

Further events are listed on our website

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Reports you should not miss:

• 5 December 2016, Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI): Global Guide to Responsible Investment Regulation
• 7 December 2016, Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN): Impact Investing Trends: Evidence of a Growing Industry
• 9 December 2016, responsAbility: Micro and SME Finance Market Outlook 2017: A survey
• 11 January 2017, World Economic Forum (WEF): The Global Risks Report 2017 – a survey of 750 thought leaders on global trends and economic risks, which identifies environmental-related risks such as climate change as key challenges in the next years.
• 31 January 2017, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD): Green Investment Banks: Scaling up Private Investment in Low-carbon, Climate-resilient Infrastructure

Read these and other recent reports

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• University of Zurich recently established the Center for Sustainable Finance and Private Wealth (CSP) at the Department of Banking and Finance. The CSP (to be headed by Falko Paetzold) works closely with its founding wealth owners, Harvard and MIT to develop research and specific trainings for the global community of private wealth owners, foundations and firms looking to integrate sustainability into their wealth and asset management.
• IFZ, who recently joined SSF as a network partner, launches a new CAS Sustainable Investing, starting in May 2017. Sign up for the course is open until 31 March 2017.

We are happy to see a growing offering of Swiss educational opportunities in sustainable finance emerging.

Best regards

The SSF team

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