Digital library on sustainable finance
TITLE
AUTHOR
PUBLISHED
LANGUAGES
Summary
Developed in collaboration with ZHAW School of Management and law, the new SSF Spotlight publication, titled “Sustainable Real Estate Investments: Insights for Direct Real Estate Investors” provides concrete guidance on how to align investment decisions with specific sustainability objectives and requirements, and how to navigate the diverse landscape of labels, benchmarks, and monitoring tools.
Link
Sustainable Real Estate Investments - DE
Summary
The Asset Management Association Switzerland (AMAS) and Swiss Sustainable Finance (SSF) have published the Swiss Stewardship Code, which provides asset managers, asset owners and financial service providers with guidance to encourage the active exercising of shareholder rights by investors in Switzerland. Investor stewardship is fundamental for effective investment and promoting sustainable businesses.
Link
Summary
In this market overview, three main objectives are examined within the regulation that applies to Switzerland: improve transparency on sustainability characteristics of financial products, promote classification systems for financial products based on their sustainability characteristics and require the integration of client ESG preferences in advisory services. After an examination, three recommendations are made for improving Swiss frameworks on sustainability-related disclosures of financial market participants.
Link
Sustainable Finance Regulation: A Comparative Analysis for Switzerland - EN
Summary
A new report, from WWF and Deloitte Switzerland, offers a first comprehensive insight into the impact of insurance companies’ underwriting business on climate change and biodiversity loss. Insurance companies have several possibilities to reduce their negative environmental impact and to become catalysts for a green, fast and fair transition. In this report, WWF recommends 6 actions; alignment, engagement, promotion of green choices among clients, eliminate harmful policies, exclusion and fossil fuel phase-out.
Link
Summary
The long awaited Taskforce for Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) Recommendations include general disclosure recommendations across four pillars of governance, strategy, risk and impact managament and matrics and targets.
Link
Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) Recommendations - EN
Summary
This document provides additional guidance for financial institutions to apply the TNFD Recommendations. The guidance applies to banks, insurance companies, asset managers and owners, and development finance institutions. Examples of different ways biodiversity and nature is currently already being disclosed by FIs alongside recommendations about how the TNFD can be used now by FIs despite data limitation.
Link
Summary
The Blue Economy encompasses economic activities that rely or impact on the use of coastal and marine resources. Like the broader concept of the Green Economy, of which the Blue Economy forms a part, it advocates sustainable use of these resources to minimize negative impacts on the marine environment. Investing in the Sustainable Blue Economy (SBE) recognizes the criticality of the ocean and its resources, and the increasing threats to the marine environment from climate change, overexploitation, and marine pollution. This voluntary guidance aims to provide to provide issuers with guidance on the key components involved in launching a credible “blue bond,” to aid investors by promoting availability of information to evaluate the environmental impact of their
“blue bond” investments, and to assist underwriters by offering vital steps that will facilitate transactions that preserve the integrity of the market.
Link
Bonds to Finance the Sustainable Blue Economy: A Practitioner's Guide - EN
Summary
With this publication, PPCmetrics AG is publishing the “Pension Fund Yearbook” (previously “Analysis of the Annual Reports of Pension Funds”) for the ninth time. The study systematically analyzes structural data from Swiss pension funds. The study is based on a broad and representative peer group of 299 pension funds with cumulative pension assets of around CHF 727 billion and around 3.7 million insured people. The data collection by PPCmetrics was carried out for the first time in 2008, so a data history of 15 years is available for the analysis.
Link
Pension Fund Yearbook 2023 - DE
Summary
This document contains the beta version of an NGFS Framework for nature-related financial risks
(the “Framework”). The Framework seeks to create a common science-based understanding of,
and language for, these nature-related financial risks among NGFS members. The aim is to provide greater clarity on the meaning of key concepts and the way these interrelate. It also contains a principle-based risk assessment framework to help operationalise that conceptual understanding.
Link
Summary
This guide features detailed insights into reporting on the ISSB and ESRD regulation. The purpose of this Guidance is to help CFOs and their teams prepare to implement the new sustainability reporting requirements to inform strategic decision-making on corporate sustainability performance and respond to requests from investors, banks and regulators.
Link
Summary
In this landmark report from the Taskforce on Nature Markets, an Initiative of Nature Finance, seven ambitious recommendations for policy makers, market actors and citizens are put forward to develop better and more sustainable markets. These include aligning economic and financial architecture with an equitable, global nature economy, policy alignment of central banks and supervisors, aligning public finance with the needs of an equitable, global nature economy and addressing harmful impacts of nature crimes.
Link
Making Nature Markets Work: Shaping Global Nature Economy in the 21st Century - EN
Summary
In accordance with the Swiss Code of Obligations and the Ordinance on Reporting on Climate Matters, many financial services providers are now obligated to report on climate risks for the first time, starting in the financial year 2024. The recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) form the cornerstone of this reporting. In this guide, SSF outlines how climate reporting can be implemented effectively, providing a foundation for forward-looking strategic decision-making.
Link
TCFD Disclosure – Guidance and Best Practice in the Swiss Context - EN
Summary
The magazine report provides insights what the future of wealth management holds, with inputs from 14 global industry leaders and opinion setters. The reader lerans about the key structural drivers facing the wealth industry and the opportunities and challenges that emerge because of these.
Download
Future of Finance-2023 (pdf 6.1 MB)Summary
The recent increased visibility of biodiversity in national and international policy is also reflected in market trends, such as an increased expansion of the carbon credits market. This paper by Nature Finance and carbone 4 looks at recent trends in carbon credits, identifies critical design challenges and sets out an initial Roadmap to address such challenges and provides insights and experiences to collectively chart this rapidly evolving market.
Link
Summary
In this joint white paper by the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) and the Climate Bond Initiative (CBI) a blueprint for the development of a climate resilience classification framework is proposed. Seven themes for resilient investments and the criteria for identifying and screening these investments by sector are proposed.
Link
Designing a Climate Resilience Classification Framework - EN
Summary
This guidance from the Institutional Investor Group on Climate Change (IIGCC) aims to standardize climate bonds and associated engagement with companies using a next step approach explained for both asset owners and asset managers.
Link
Summary
In the 2023 edition of the SSF Sustainable Investment Market Study the total volume of sustainability-related investments in Switzerland fell by 19 percent, to CHF 1,610 billion, in 2022. The decline is mainly attributable to the negative market performance (around 18 percent) and tighter definitions of sustainability-related investments by respondents. Thematic investments and impact investments have defied the market dynamics and are showing strong growth.
Link
Summary
This white paper, based on a collaborative roundtable with Pelt8, CelciusPro and 15 organisations from the public and private sector, discusses the challenges and best practices of climate reporting. It aims to be a starting point for companies navigating climate reporting and sustainability reporting challenges
Link
Summary
This briefing provides banks a first overview of how the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) applies to their industry, through the axes of risk, opportunities, dependencies and impacts. It aims to support the industry in managing associated risks, capturing relevant opportunities and preparing for anticipated policy developments that will yield new compliance and disclosure requirements.
Link
Summary
This report presents the results of an extensive global pilot testing led by UNEP FI with the private finance sector to test the draft risk management and disclosure framework from the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD).
Link
Unboxing Nature-related Risks: Insights from the UNEP FI-led TNFD Piloting Programme - EN
Summary
This white paper compares funds with sustainability terms from across the UK, US and EU and demonstrates that only 4% fit with sustainable finance regulation across all three jurisdictions. Furthermore this paper examines what these findings demonstrate about regulatory compliance across regimes and suggests some potential solutions.
Link
Summary
A World Bank paper on physical risks for the banking sector in emerging markets determined that half of all credit portfolios in emerging markets are with companies whose businesses are highly or very highly dependent on one or more ecosystem services. Overall 21 ecosystem services with 86 dependent business processes are mentioned.
Link
Summary
In the face of unprecedented biodiversity loss, 196 countries adopted in December 2022 the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) providing a global framework to halt and reverse nature loss by 2030.
This report provides an overview of the goals of the GBF and recommendations on how investors should implement them. It supports investors in managing associated risks and preparing for anticipated policy developments.
This resource was developed by UNEP FI, the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) and the Finance for Biodiversity Foundation as part of the Investment Leadership Programme.
Link
Summary
In this Synthesis Report of the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report (AR&) the state of knowledge of climate change, its impacts and risks, and climate change mitigationa nd adaption are summarized. It integrates the main findings of the Sixth Assessment Report (AR&) based on contributions from three Working Groups and three Special Reports. This summary for Policymakers is structured in three parts; Current Status and Trends, Future Climate Chnage, risks and Long-Term Responses, and Responses in the Near Term.
Link
Summary
Nature loss poses a major risk to businesses, while moving to nature-positive investments offers opportunity. The market-led, science-based TNFD framework will enable companies and financial institutions to integrate nature into decision making. In this latest draft, the v0.4, market participants can see a full representation of the framework, including examples of additional guidance by sector and biome. The framework consists of recommended disclosure metrics, the LEAP approach to identifying intersections with nature and guidance on core definitions and concepts, metrics and targets.
Link
The TNFD Nature-related Risk and Opportunity Management and Disclosure Framework v0.4 - EN
