The Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ), chaired by Mark Carney, UN Special Envoy on Climate Action and Finance and former governor of Bank of England, brings together over 450 firms (with total assets of around USD 130 trillion) from the leading net-zero initiatives across the financial system to accelerate the transition to net-zero emissions by 2050 at the latest. It is one of the more encouraging signs of COP26, that private finance set such ambitious targets.

SSF has encouraged its members to sign one of the recognised net-zero commitments ahead of COP26. As of now, 24 members have committed to a net-zero goal. With this, Swiss financial market players form part of the large global mobilisation of the finance sector to contribute to the objectives of the Paris Climate Change Agreement. In yesterday’s announcement, the Swiss government stressed the importance of such private sector action.

In early December, Switzerland will build on the momentum created in Glasgow and hold the Building Bridges Week in Geneva, hosting 77 sustainable finance events. As there is no time to be complacent, Building Bridges provides the opportunity to create new networks and further innovate to use private finance to foster sustainable solutions.

Swiss News

• The Federal Council adopted various measures for the Swiss Financial Center to accelerate action in sustainable finance on 17 November 2021 and published the three media releases:
  • The Federal Council strives to be international leader in sustainable finance with climate transparency.
  • The Federal Council wishes to show its commitment to sustainability with green Confederation bonds.
  • The Federal Council adopts the report on climate-friendly financial market. (Available in German and French)
  • Read a brief SSF summary of the above.
    
• FINMA published guidance on preventing and combating greenwashing on 3 November 2021. The guidance includes expectations and current practices surrounding sustainability-related collective investment schemes on the level of funds and institutions as well as rules of conduct at the point of sale. SSF has collected a brief summary of the announcement here. The original FINMA keynote on “Sustainable Finance” can be downloaded here.
• As a member of the Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS), FINMA committed to the implementation of the relevant recommendations on 3 November 2021. FINMA announced to actively integrate climate-related financial risk into its supervisory practices and is developing concepts to adequately supervise climate risk management by banks and insurers.
• The Swiss Federal Council rejects the abolition of stamp duties on sustainable finance products on 3 November 2021. (Available in German, French and Italian)

EU News

• On 22 October 2021 the European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) published their final report on draft Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) on taxonomy-related disclosures for Article 8 and Article 9 of the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR).

International News

• During the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the UN Global Sustainable Finance Observatory (GSFO) was launched with the aim to promote and facilitate the transition of sustainable investment into the mainstream.
• Frankfurt was selected to be the seat of the new International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) with additional offices located in Montreal, San Francisco, London and further negotiations being led with Beijing and Tokyo about an Asian presence, leaving the Geneva candidacy apart.
• The Board of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) published recommendations about sustainability-related practices, policies, procedures and disclosure in the asset management industry to address the risk of greenwashing.
• The Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS) published its NGFS Glasgow Declaration outlining the role it will play in contributing towards the deliverables of the COP26.
• The Science based Targets climate pledge (SBTi) has launched a Net-Zero Standard to provide companies with guidance and tools in reaching their science-based net-zero targets.
• The CFA Institute published their Global ESG Disclosure Standards for Investment Products 2021, which provide ethical standards for full disclosure and aim to make investment disclosures more uniform, transparent and comparable. SSF had provided feedback on the draft standards.

Market trends

• The Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) issued a new XBLR taxonomy to improve ESG reporting and data analysis and comparability. XBRL is an open standard used in business reporting, so this move will allow reported metrics to be read via digital tags by machine.
• London takes the lead in the eighth edition of the Global Green Finance Index, while Zürich and Geneva both remain high on the list with rank 4 and 6.

We are happy to welcome the following organisations as new SSF members:  

• BCP – Banque de Commerce et de Placements (Bank)
• LibertyGreen 3a Vorsorgestiftung (Pension Foundation)
• Luzerner Kantonalbank (Bank)
• Pensionskassen der F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG (Pension Fund)
• Pensionskasse Thurgau (Pension Fund)

The full list of our members and network partners, now standing at 194, can be found here.

SSF events:

• 30 November 2021, Sustainable Finance Technology Workshop on Novel ESG Data Solutions, part of Building Bridges Week, Geneva
• 1 December 2021, Shedding Light on the ESG Jungle, part of Building Bridges Week, Geneva
• 1 December 2021, Scaling Private Investments for Impact Success Factors for Private-Public Collaboration, part of Building Bridges Week, Geneva
• 1 December 2021, Roadmap Launch at “the Village” of Building Bridges, Geneva

Other sustainable finance events:

• 26-27 November 2021, 2021 Sustainable Finance Hack (Hackathon), Geneva (online)

Visit our website for further events.

• 5 November 2021, Finance.Swiss, Patrick Odier on why the sustainable finance community is gathering momentum in Geneva (video, 6mins)
• 2 November 2021, Le Matin, Des fonds «verts» de banques suisses sont pleins de carbone
• 28 October 2021, Finanz und Wirtschaft, Greenwashing macht Finanzbranche vorsichtiger
• 27 October 2021, Tagesanzeiger, Ist grünes Anlegen sinnvoll – oder nur lukrativ für die Bank?
• 21 October 2021, Corriere del Ticino, Investimenti tematici sostenibili

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