Women have shaped the sustainable finance sphere since the beginning, and issues such as Board diversity and equal treatment of employees are a key element of many ESG evaluations. Yet, in order to create a truly inclusive economy and society, there is still a considerable amount of work to be done, seeing that women remain underrepresented in key positions, were disproportionally hit by the pandemic-related job loss, and the gender pay gap persists.

We are thererfore particularly happy that we saw the financial sector ramp up its commitment on gender diversity and inclusion on international women’s day on March 8^th. The Gender Lens Initiative for Switzerland (GLIS) was launched by SSF members SFG and AlphaMundi, alongside other partners, with the aim to unlock more gender-smart capital, further gender lens investment products and increase the gender balance of financial institutions.

SSF is convinced that a diverse and inclusive finance industry will positively affect other sustainability targets too, and looks forward to upcoming work in this field.

Swiss news

• On International Women’s Day on March 8, Sustainable Finance Geneva (SFG), on initiative by AlphaMundi and the GenderSmart Investing Summit, launched the Gender Lens Initiative for Switzerland (GLIS), with the aim to strengthen the Swiss contribution to SDG 5 on gender equality.

• A new study by the Swiss Climate Alliance contends that the assets of average Swiss pension schemes could shrink by 10% in 15 years purely as a result of climate change. The study, designed as a "worst case" scenario, is based on the TCFD approach and data by Carbon Delta.

International developments

• On March 10 2021, the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) came into force in the European Union, requiring the publication of extensive information on the integration of sustainability risks and its effect on performance, alongside other information.

• The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), published its Final Report with advice on the KPIs and definitions that should be used for non-financial companies to provide information on how their activities qualify as environmentally sustainable under the Taxonomy Regulation, as well as KPIs for asset managers.

• The G20 recently announced that they will relaunch the G20 sustainable finance study group, under the lead of China and the United States (US).

• In February, the US officially re-joined the Paris Climate Agreement. Under the Biden Administration, sustainable finance also appears to be gaining importance, with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) forming a climate and ESG task force.

Market trends

• The Swiss stock exchange SIX recently launched ESG indices for the Swiss equity and bond markets.

• Swiss Re has concretised its climate targets and announced that it aims to reduce the carbon intensity of its corporate bond and equity portfolio by 35%, and phase out the provision of coal insurance to OECD states by 2030 and the rest of the world by 2040. It also stepped up its internal carbon levy to $100 per tonne.

• Five Swiss pension funds have teamed up to invest in clean energy infrastructure facilities in Switzerland, through the creation of a dedicated fund.

• A German consumer organisation has sued one of Germany’ largest banks, DeKaBank, regarding an allegedly misleading impact calculator for one of its impact equity funds, which has led to a debate surrounding questions of impact measurement.

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

• Aargauische Kantonalbank (Bank)
• Energy Infrastructure Partners (Asset Manager)
• EPFL Tech4Impact (Research and education facility)
• PostFinance (Bank)
• SquareLife Insurance AG (Insurance company)

The full list of our members and network partners, now standing at 170, can be found on the SSF website.

SSF events:

• Save the Date: 7 June 2021, SSF Swiss Sustainable Investment Market Study Launch Event, online. More information soon on SSF website.
• Save the Date: 22 June 2021, SSF Members’ Assembly & Annual Event
• Save the date: 29 November 2021, Building Bridges, Geneva

SSF is an official partner of the following events:

• 15 April 2021, SPHERE ESG, 2nd Edition, online
• 26-30 April 2021, RI country spotlight: Switzerland, online
• 26 May 2021, Fundamente für die Zukunft, Rüschlikon
• 21-22 June 2021, New Energy Investor Summit, Zurich

Other activities & opportunities:

For an academic workshop on sustainable finance, held on September 23rd 2021 by the University of Liechtenstein, the organisers are calling for papers, to be submitted by 1st June.

• 16 March 2021, Corriere del Ticino, Investimenti sostenibili:la scelta dell’esclusione (by SSF Team member Alberto Stival)
• 15 March 2021, swissinfo, Are Swiss banks really chopping environmental devastation from trade financing?
• 10 March 2021, finews, Wie wirkt sich der EU-Nachhaltigkeitsplan auf Schweizer Banken aus?
• 8 March 2021, NZZ, Weltfrauentag: Erfolgreich Geld anlegen mit der Gender-Linse
• 2 March 2021, IPE, Swiss pension funds to benefit from cabinet’s new climate policies (with statements by SSF CEO Sabine Döbeli)
• 23 February 2021, The Market, Was ESG zur Performance beiträgt
• 17 February 2021, Corriere del Ticino, Investimenti sostenibili per le casse pension (by SSF Team member Alberto Stival)
• 10 February 2021, SRF Echo Der Zeit, Grüne Finanzprodukte im Aufwind (with SSF CEO Sabine Döbeli)
• 10 February 2021, Le Temps, La bourse suisse lance des indices durables qui peinent à convaincre

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