Our members elected Patrick Odier, Senior Managing Partner of Lombard Odier, as the new SSF president at the SSF Members’ Assembly this Tuesday– Congratulations! We would like to thank Jean-Daniel Gerber, who retired as president after six years in office, for his personal commitment and attentive stewardship. Under his guidance, SSF became what it is; a highly regarded and credible voice in all aspects of sustainable finance. We equally welcome Patrick Odier and look forward to his support when addressing the many topics on our agenda, transparency being just the beginning.

Reports such as a recent Greenpeace study, questioning the positive effect of sustainable investments, increase the pressure on financial players to demonstrate the impact of their solutions. Against this backdrop, the SSF reporting recommendations for portfolios published this week are a timely contribution to the current debate on building investor trust. We probably all agree that following the rejection of the revised Swiss CO2-law in a popular vote from mid-June, the financial sector cannot delay measures and instead has to increase action on a voluntary basis. Providing ESG transparency is a first important step.

Swiss news

• On 13 June, Swiss voters rejected the revised CO2 Act, which represents a significant and surprising setback for Switzerland on the path to reach its climate targets.
  
  
• Swiss financial market supervisor FINMA amended two of its circulars on disclosure and now requires large banks and insurance companies to provide qualitative and quantitative information on climate risks.
  
  
• The Federal Council has officially adopted the Sustainable Development Strategy 2030, which also outlines objectives regarding sustainability and the financial market (see chapter 5.3).
  
  
• Late May, WWF Switzerland published the 2nd edition of its Retail Bank Rating, assessing the 15 largest retail banks in Switzerland. According to the results, half of Switzerland’s largest retail banks demonstrate “good practice” in integrating environmental objectives, but none can be described as “visionaries” or “pioneers”.

International developments

• The International Energy Agency (IEA) issued a detailed Paris-aligned decarbonisation roadmap, with a strong plea to end investment in new fossil fuel supply projects immediately.
  
  
• On 4 June, the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) was officially launched. The TNFD aims to develop a framework within the next 2 years for companies and financial institutions to assess, manage, and report on nature-related risks and opportunities.
  
  
• On a similar note, the British Standards Institute provided a novel standard for natural capital accounting.
  
  
• Also on the topic of biodiversity, the ENCORE tool, which allows financial institutions to assess and visualise natural capital risks in their activities, launched a new biodiversity module. This module was developed with the support of the Swiss government.
  
  
• The Network of Central Banks and Supervisors for Greening the Financial System (NGFS) moved forward on its work on scenario analysis, presenting an updated set of climate scenarios and a dedicated website.

Market trends

• During this year’s AGM season, multiple large oil companies faced investor action on climate change. Most notably, activist investors succeeded in installing multiple “climate-competent” members to the Board of Exxon.
  
  
• In a landmark ruling, a Dutch court ordered Shell to slash its greenhouse gas emissions by 45% by 2030 compared with 2019 levels.

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

• Allianz Global Investors (Schweiz) AG (Asset Manager)
• Reichmuth & Co Investment Management AG (Asset manager)
• S&P Global Switzerland SA (Service provider)
• Scobag Privatbank AG (Bank)

The full list of our members and network partners, now standing at 179, can be found on the SSF website.

SSF events:

• 6 October 2021, Networking Event Series – Sustainable Finance Technology –Conference on Novel Data Solutions, organised jointly by SSF and ZHAW, Zurich
• 29 November - 2 December, Building Bridges Week and Summit, Geneva

Other sustainable finance events:

• 24 June 2021, Impact Investing in Listed Equities – Towards a Common Understanding, a virtual event hosted by the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN)
• 6 September 2021, ZFSI2021 Zürich Forum for Sustainable Investment, Zurich
• 23 September 2021, GFSI2021 Geneva Forum for Sustainable Investment, Geneva
• 28 September 2021, NZZ Impact Finance Forum, Bern

• 23 June 2021, L'Agéfi, Patrick Odier élu à la présidence de Swiss Sustainable Finance
• 23 June 2021, Investrends, Swiss Sustainable Finance lanciert Transparenz-Empfehlungen
• 15 June 2021, Corriere del Ticino, Investire con il metodo d’integrazione di ESG
• 14 June 2021, Finanz und Wirtschaft, Vorsprung Europas bei ESG-Investments
• 10 June 2021, allnews.ch , Banques: Guy Parmelin prône une focalisation sur la finance durable
• 8 June 2021, Le Temps, Gestion durable: 1500 milliards de francs d’avoirs en Suisse
• 8 June 2021, swissinfo, Investimenti sostenibili in forte aumento
• 7 June 2021, SRF Echo der Zeit (radio), Nachhaltig investieren mit «Engagement»
• 7 June 2021, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Investoren fordern mit immer drastischeren Mitteln robuste Klimastrategien ein – für unbewegliche Firmen wird es ungemütlich
• 7 June 2021, Finanz und Wirtschaft, Nachhaltige Anlagefonds erobern Platz eins

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