Digital library on sustainable finance
TITLE
AUTHOR
PUBLISHED
LANGUAGES
Summary
In this report by SwissBanking the role of banks in Switzerland's buildings' energy efficiency and the pace of renovation needed to meet climate goals in the real estate sector is analyzed. Banks can provide financial incentives to motivate renovation and as such the Swiss Bankers Association (SBA) has named 4 areas the priority for banks looking to improve their climate efficient mortgages: more comprehensive client consulting, classification and climate-efficient mortgages, creating a suitable regulatory framework, improved data availability and a higher level of digitalization.
Link
Climate-efficient mortgages – The ins and outs Opportunities for greener property financing - DE
Climate-efficient mortgages – The ins and outs Opportunities for greener property financing - FR
Climate-efficient mortgages – The ins and outs Opportunities for greener property financing - EN
Summary
In this final report on the Social Taxonomy, the EU Commission Platform on Sustainable Finance provides a structure for a social taxonomy, its relationship with the environmental taxonomy and other sustainability objectives such as governance and the regulatory landscape. The two key features of the social taxonomy are: 1) the distinction between inherent social benefit, i.e. job creation, and additional social benefits and 2) the social taxonomy cannot be based on science.
Link
The EU Commission Platform on Sustainable Finance Final Report on Social Taxonomy - EN
Summary
The authors suggest creating a Swiss green Investment Bank (SGIB), with the mandate to enthuse financial players to act and to aid the international climate finance efforts. In this report the required characteristics of such a bank are explained and potential actions are explored.
Link
Summary
This report is published by the Working group II of the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC). The current and modelled impacts on climate, ecosystem and biodiversity and potential risks are documented. This SSF summary highlights the financial aspects of this report. Read the summary for policymakers here.
Link
Summary
Dr. Julian Köbel and Adrien-Paul Lambillon, from the Centre for Sustainable Finance and Private Wealth at the Department of Banking and Finance of the University of Zurich, published this new piece of research, which explores sustainability-linked bonds (SLBs). These are types of bonds that have a coupon linked to the issuer achieving a sustainability target and are an important and promising mechanism for impact investing.
Link
Who Pays for Sustainability? An Analysis of Sustainability-Linked Bonds - EN
Summary
Financial Centres for Sustainability (FC4S) published their fourth annual State of Play report, which collects input from 29 financial centers around the globe. The report highlights seven key insights on how financial centres are mobilizing their capital, resources, connectivity and expertise. SSF contributed this report by completing the questionnaire for Zurich as a financial centre.
Link
FC4S State of Play Report 2022: Leading Financial Centres Stepping Up Sustainability Action - EN
Summary
n 2022, Schroders commissioned alan. agency and iResearch to conduct an independent online survey of 23,950 people who invest from 33 locations around the globe, spanning across Europe, Asia and the Americas, surveyed between 18 February and 7 April 2022.
Link
Schroders Global investor Study 2022: Sustainability Report - EN
Summary
The Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance has published new rules on how investors should calculate and set targets on climate within their portfolio on allocate capital supporting decarbonisation. The report also aims for a 16-29% reduction in asset class-level remissions reductions by 2025 and the inclusion of Scope 3 emissions in net-zero considerations.
Link
Summary
In this new study by the World Benchmarking Alliance, 1000 companies from around the world, including 15 Swiss companies, are evaluated based on social aspects of their business including human rights, decent work and ethical conduct. Only 1% of these companies are adequately demonstrating socially responsible business conduct.
Link
Summary
The demand for oil is provoking significantly increased investment into new oil, however, this goes against global production reductions required to meet “well below 2°C” scenarios of the Paris Agreement. The result could be short-term signals resulting in risky over-investment and impacted shareholder value. The extent of the risks and financial loss is explored via various scenarios in this report.
Link
Summary
Following the Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration on Forest and Land Use, a commitment signed by 141 countries, including Switzerland, this report by Forest 500 provides evidence that many companies are ignoring the issue of deforestation and are not prepared for future regulatory changes. Forest 500 tracks policies and performance of the financial sector linked to deforestation in supply chains and investment.
Link
Summary
The Global Risks Report series tracks global risks perceptions among risk experts and world leaders in business, government, and civil society. It examines risks across five categories: economic, environmental, geopolitical, societal, and technological. Every year the report also analyses key risks to explore further in deep-dive chapters—these could be risks that feature prominently on our survey, those for which warning signs are beginning to surface, or potential blind spots in risk perceptions.
Link
Summary
The Corporate Climate Responsibility Monitor evaluates the transparency and integrity of 25 major global companies, critically analysing the extent to which they demonstrate corporate climate leadership.
Download
CorporateClimateResponsibilityMonitor2022 (pdf 6.4 MB)Summary
The study examines the novel phenomenon of sustainability-linked bonds (SLBs). These bonds’ coupon is linked to the issuer achieving a predetermined sustainability performance target. We estimate the yield differential between SLBs and non-sustainable counterfactuals by matching bonds from the same issuer. Our results show that in most cases investors pay for the improvement in sustainability, while issuers benefit from a sustainability premium.
Download
Kölbel Lambillon (2022) Who pays for sustainability (pdf 1.9 MB)Summary
The Global Impact Investment Network (GIIN) conducted this pilot research study to assess the annualised impact performance of direct impact investments in clean energy access and housing. This effort addressed two sets of questions: 1) Feasibility: Is it possible to aggregate and compare impact performance data to generate insights?, 2) Results: If so, what social and environmental results are associated with impact investors’ activity?
Link
Evaluating Impact Performance: Clean Energy Access Investments - EN
Summary
The recommendations for private capital in this report focus on transforming the quality and transparency of information on the impact of investment decisions and deploying financing, especially in emerging markets, that delivers positive social and environmental impact.
Link
Time to deliver: mobilising private capital at scale for people and planet - EN
Summary
This research report takes stock of the climate actions that European asset owners are undertaking in light of the urgent need to act on climate change and deliver on the Paris Agreement. WWF contacted 100 asset owners across 12 countries in Europe to better understand the actions they are taking on climate change: 33 asset owners responded.
Link
Summary
In this 2021 edition of our Voting Matters series, 65 of the world’s largest asset managers who voted this year across 146 social and environmental resolutions are examined. Proxy voting is a core part of an asset manager’s fiduciary duty and a key way in which the sector can influence companies on social and environmental issues. This report is part of a wider programme of work, which aims to raise standards in the asset management sector around fit-for-purpose stewardship.
Link
Summary
The CDSB Framework application guidance for biodiversity-related disclosures (the Biodiversity Application Guidance) has been produced by CDSB to assist companies in the disclosure of the material information about the risks and opportunities that biodiversity presents to an organisation’s strategy, financial performance and condition within the mainstream report (biodiversity-related financial disclosure). It is designed to supplement the CDSB Framework for reporting environmental and climate change information to investors (CDSB Framework).
Link
CDSB Framework Application guidance for biodiversity-related disclosures - EN
Summary
The recommendations set out in this paper are directed at the asset management industry with the intention to build a bridge between asset managers, other financial service providers and end-investors. It focuses on the products designed by the fund and asset management industry and sold by financial service providers to investors. and has three main goals:
- Define the various sustainable investment approaches and instruments in more detail and set minimum criteria for the implementation of each of them.
- Specify minimum requirements for investor information on the different investment approaches and instruments.
- Identify which of these sustainable investment approaches satisfy the three main sustainable investor goals most effectively.
These recommendations also aim at supporting the “points of sale” and distribution, ensuring a financial advisor has access to all relevant information in order to recommend the most suitable sustainable product to a client
Link
Summary
This Roadmap showcases how the financial sector can play a key role in transforming our society and economy into one that respects planetary boundaries while offering prosperity to all people. The Roadmap outlines key steps for Swiss financial market players to fully integrate sustainability factors into their actions and operations. This report will serve as a tool for ongoing dialogue with all players in the financial system about how best to achieve our common goal of a sustainable future.
Link
The Transition to a Sustainable Future - A Roadmap for Key Swiss Financial Market Players - EN
Summary
This Final Report, drafted by the IOSCO Task Force on Sustainable Finance (STF), follows the Consultation Report titled Recommendations on Sustainability-Related Practices, Policies, Procedures and Disclosure in Asset Management that was published on 30 June 2021 (the Consultation Report). The aim is to improve sustainability-related practices, policies, procedures and disclosures in the asset management industry and makes 5 recommendations for securities regulators and policymakers. These recommendations cover (1) asset manager practices, policies, procedures and diclosure, (2) product disclosure, (3) supervision and enforcement, (4) terminology and (5) financial and investor education. Within the report itself Chapter 1 offers an introduction, Chapter 2 provides an overview of regulatory approaches relevent to asset manager practices and disclosure including the TCFD Framework, Chapter 3 focuses on regulatory approaches related to product disclosure, chapter 4 analyses the role of financial and investor education in sustainable finance and provides a market over, chapter 5 addresses challenges and chapter 6 illustrated IOSCO's final recommendations for securities regulators and policymakers.
Link
Summary
This report is the outcome of a four-month-long survey conducted by Tameo on private asset impact funds (PAIFs) with a focus on developing countries. The surveyed market consists of all investment vehicles operated by specialized impact fund managers and that have more than 50% of their non-cash asset allocated both to private debt or private equity instruments and to emerging and frontier markets, with a development impact bias.
The 2021 survey brings together the most comprehensive dataset to date on this investment fund universe. It also segments the analysis by each fund’s primary asset class (fixed income, equity and mixed funds) and primary impact sector (climate & energy; food & agriculture; health & education; housing, water & communities; microfinance; SME development; and multi-sector funds). It also delves into those impact management and measurement approaches that are inherent to development finance investments. The report highlights microfinance fund data given their historical prominence within the PAIF landscape.
Link
Summary
The Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) is a global coalition of leading financial
institutions in the UN’s Race to Zero that is committed to accelerating and mainstreaming the
decarbonisation of the world economy and reaching net-zero emissions by 2050. This report aims to summarise not only the work accomplished by GFANZ to date, but also the road
ahead for GFANZ. It will also serve as a resource for financial services practitioners and all those who
work with the financial system on net-zero issues.
Link
Summary
This annual study focuses on sustainable Public Funds available in Switzerland and the data (climate strategies and metrics) behind sustainable investments in Switzerland.
Link
IFZ Sustainable Investments Studie 2021: Nachhaltige Fonds und Klimarisken - DE
