The debate about what is a sustainable investment and what is not has peaked with the European Commission now declaring nuclear and gas as taxonomy-compliant and therewith green. With this decision, the authority that created the taxonomy to prevent “greenwashing” is now facing the exact same allegation – not just by NGOs, but also by the Platform on Sustainable Finance that acts as the scientific advisor to the Commission. Although the decision has yet to be confirmed by the EU Member states and the European Parliament, it is pretty certain that it will go through. Does this mean, all sustainable funds will soon contain nuclear and gas? This is quite unlikely, seeing that many fund managers already announced that they will not include these technologies into their sustainable strategies. Yet, if political leaders in EU countries – and even beyond – are now less inclined to create frameworks boosting climate-friendly technologies, investors will have less choice of truly green companies (see also my comments in a recent interview with SRF). In Switzerland, we have yet to demonstrate that we find another, more pragmatic but credible way to define sustainable investments. The respective work on a federal level has started and SSF is happy to contribute its expert know-how to it.

For SSF, 2022 has started with an exciting key milestone: we now have over 200 members and network partners. We look forward to seeing representatives of all of them at one of our next events, be it virtually or soon in person again.

Swiss News

• On 17 December, the Swiss Federal Council opened a consultation to revise the CO2 Act, which aims to extend the current CO2 Law enacted by the Swiss Parliament, into the years 2025 and 2030. Read the full press release here in German, French or Italian.

EU News

• The EU Commission released its newest draft report of the Taxonomy, accepting gas and nuclear. The European Commission’s Platform Members and Observers published a Response to the Complementary Delegated Act, which criticized the reclassification of nuclear and natural gas activities as eligible for sustainable financing. 
• ESMA has opened a consultation regarding the amendment of certain sustainability aspects of the suitability requirements of the draft guidelines of MiFID II.

International News

• The Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance (NZOA) and Convergence Blended Finance announce the signing of a collaboration agreement to increase investment in climate and net-zero solutions in emerging and frontier markets. These solutions aim to bridge the over USD 1.8 trillion annual climate private investment gap in developing countries.

Market trends

• Owning the Future: A Review of European Asset Owners’ Net Zero Targets was published by WWF, highlighting the positive and negative trends observed in such commitments. These include that many demonstrate a concerted ambition for targets to be reached by 2030 or even before, but also that big changes such as “phasing out” coal were missed.
• The World Economic Forum (WEF) published their Global Risk Report 2022, which shares the results of the latest Global Risk Perception Survey and analyses key risks emerging from economic, societal, environmental and technological arenas, including a disorderly climate transition, economic recovery from Covid-19, cyber threats and global trends of migration.

We are happy to welcome the following organisation as new SSF member: 

• Basellandschaftliche Pensionskasse (Pension Fund)
• EFG International AG (Bank)
• Gonet & Cie SA (Bank)
• LGT Capital Partners Ltd (Asset Manager)
• Terra Helvetica Anlagestiftung (Asset Owner)
• Twelve Capital AG (Asset Manager)

The full list of our members and network partners, now standing at 204, can be found here.

• 24 February 2022, MiFID II Member Webinar, members can contact us for further information
• Save the Date: 16 March 2022, Online, SSF workshop for institutional asset owners: Climate commitments and their practical implications
• Save the Date: 9 June 2022, Zürich, launch of Swiss Sustainable Investment Market Study 2022
• Save the Date: 29 June 2022, Bern, SSF Annual Event

• 3 February 2022, SRF, «Grüner» Finanzplatz der EU «Bei einem Unfall ist das Schadenspotenzial bei AKW riesig» (Interview with Sabine Döbeli)
• 2 February 2022, NZZ, Der Schweizer Finanzplatz hat eine Chance verpasst
• 17 January 2022, real estate move, EU-Taxonomie lässt kein Abseitsstehen zu
• 14 January 2022, L’Agefi, Universités et instituts privés multiplient les offres de formation à la finance durable
• 10 January 2022, PME, Evolution des banques face à l’intérêt croissant des investissements durables 
• 9 January 2022, Le Temps, Building Bridges: un événement plein de promesses
• 21 December 2021. Corriere del Ticino, Finanza sostenibile e regolamentazione

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