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SSF Newsletter September 2024
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Finding the Balance
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Dear Maurice Bohren
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In the real estate sector, fostering transparency between asset managers and investors is crucial, particularly as the sector shifts towards sustainable buildings. Transparency ensures that investors have access to accurate information about environmental and social performance, construction practices, and long-term value. SSF has contributed to further transparency in the real estate industry by publishing the "Standard ESG-Questionnaire for Direct Real Estate Vehicles" which aims to improve the comparability of the ESG performance of direct real estate vehicles. While new buildings are being constructed according to the latest low-emission standards, the key for the unrenovated building stock will be to find a balance between sustainability and economic efficiency. The market is eagerly looking for standards in dealing with embodied carbon and calculating portfolio emission reduction paths. In finding ways to reconcile these efforts with financial goals, the real estate sector can achieve the transformation while delivering stable economic returns.
Read also about other key topics expressing fast developments in sustainable finance, including the updated SSF Glossary, an interview with Silvia Ruprecht from the FOEN, the release of the Building Bridges programme, and various market news.
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Kind regards
Hendrik Kimmerle
Senior Project Manager
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SSF activities at a glance
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New Standard Questionnaire on Sustainability Criteria for Real Estate Investments
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SSF has recently published a standard questionnaire on sustainability criteria for real estate investments, which forms a standardised basis for comparing the sustainability of real estate funds. Together with industry experts involved in the creation, we held a webinar where we informed on the background, objective, and content of the questionnaire with an extensive Q&A session. Watch the recording here.
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Updated Sustainable Finance Glossary
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The landscape of sustainable finance is changing rapidly and the use of related terminologies is subject to change over time. While it is important to rely on established concepts, certain definitions need to be adapted to reflect current market practice. This is why SSF has updated its Glossary to reflect recent developments and regulatory changes. Find the SSF Glossary here.
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Insights from 10 SSF Companions: Silvia Ruprecht
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Over the course of the year, we are publishing 10 interviews with key SSF companions that helped make SSF what it is today. Read the sixth in the series, an interview with Silvia Ruprecht, Project Lead Climate and Finance, Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN).
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SFI SSF Event in Zurich
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At this year’s SFI–SSF conference in Zurich, attended by around 250 participants, renowned executives and experts from the financial industry and academia cast light on the practical implementation of sustainability strategies in real estate investments and SME lending. Read a summary and view photos here.
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SSF Present at Building Bridges 2024
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SSF will be hosting two events with renowned partners at this year's Building Bridges Conference in Geneva. The first one will focus on an interactive discussion on how to build credible transition plans across sectors and the second one is the official launch of the Swiss National Partners Network to GSG Impact. View the programme and registration.
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Regulatory and market news
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Swiss News
Market News
- SIX has launched the SIX 1.5°C Climate Equity Flag, a new initiative designed to help companies provide additional supporting evidence that their entire value chain is contributing towards limiting global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
- The International Finance Corporation (IFC) has created a machine learning ESG analyst, called MALENA. The artificial intelligence extracts insights from unstructured ESG data at scale and is now available as a free public good. MALENA is tailored to emerging markets and could be beneficial to investors, FIs, and data providers.
- PPCmetrics has published its annual report on pension funds (Pensionskassen-Jahrbuch 2024) which systematically analyses structural data from Swiss pension funds. The share of pension funds reporting on the sustainability of their investments rose to almost 50% in the 2023 financial year. In addition, the introduction of ASIP's ESG reporting standard has encouraged pension funds to increasingly publish quantitative ESG indicators for their equity and bond portfolios.
- Swissfoundations published the 2024 edition of its Benchmark Report. The report analyses how effectively Swiss foundations manage their assets. It also looks at sustainability criteria such as motives for sustainability, the proportion of sustainable assets in the portfolio and the use of different sustainability approaches.
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New SSF members and network partners
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We are happy to welcome the following organisations as a new SSF member:
The full list of our members and network partners, now standing at 257, can be found here.
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- The University of Basel is offering a CAS in Sustainable Real Estate (in English). The program focuses on the analysis, evaluation and transformation of real estate investments and real estate portfolios with regard to sustainability and combines latest academic research with comprehensive practical knowledge. Find more information and register here.
- The Swiss Philanthropy Foundation organises a Master Class in Philanthropy (in French) in partnership with the Geneva Centre for Philanthropy (GCP) and the Basel Centre for Philanthropy (CEPS) in March 2025. The aim of this practice-oriented continuing education course is to provide a 360° view of philanthropy, as well as the tools and practical knowledge needed to understand current developments and trends in philanthropy. Find more information and registration here. SSF members receive a discount.
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- 3 October 2024, 10:00 – 11:30: SSF Webinar on the Impact of EU Sustainable Finance Regulations on Third Country Companies, featuring guest speakers from Eurosif and the industry (register)
- 22 October 2024, 09:30 – 12:30: SBA/SSF Workshop on Sustainability in the Mortgage Business: Regulatory Challenges and Opportunities (register in German or in French)
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SSF and sustainable finance in the media
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- 19 September 2024, Les droits de l’homme et l’investissement durable, Focus Swiss (authored by Daniela Lavrador, Director Romandie)
- 16 September 2024, Nachhaltigkeit im Schweizer Kreditmarkt, Absolut Research
- 5 September 2024, Wie Geld wirkt, The Philanthropist
- 28 August 2024, Swiss Sustainable Finance schafft einheitliche Grundlage für Nachhaltigkeits-Vergleich von Immobilienfonds, e-fundresearch
- 28 August 2024, SSF schafft einheitliche Grundlage für Vergleich der Nachhaltigkeit von Immobilienfonds, The Onliner
- 21 August 2024, Mehr Strom und Geld für nachhaltige Finanzen, Finews
- 21 August 2024, Greenwashing nei servizi finanziari in Svizzera: una minaccia crescente, Ticino Digital Business
- 21 August 2024, Wie gut nutzen Pensionskassen ihre Anlagestrategien? Nachrichten AG
Visit our website for more articles.
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Climate-Related Risks— A Focus on Banks and Credit Risk
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Financial institutions are reshaping their business models to address the challenge of sustainability. In this roundup, scholars and practitioners explore the progress made and the obstacles that remain. Banks and investors are increasingly incorporating climate risks into their decision-making processes. Yet today, these risks are not always correctly priced in financial markets. Greater coordination between public and private initiatives could help ensure sufficient capital flows toward sustainable investments to meet global targets. The insights shared by the experts shed light on the part that sustainable finance can play in enabling the shift to a sustainable economy.
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More >
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Engamement Report 2022/2023
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The SVVK-ASIR Engagement Report provides information on the association's engagement activities. In the last two years, it has intensified its dialogue with companies, particularly in the Swiss domestic market. In 2022 and 2023, the association conducted 176 and 170 engagement dialogues respectively, more than half of them on human and labour rights. 19 cases were successfully concluded, but climate change remained a key issue and the focus was also increasingly on Switzerland. In summer 2023, SVVK surveyed around 20 property fund providers on their net zero plans, revealing major differences in sustainability reports and measures.
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More >
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Wirtschaftlichkeit der energetischen Sanierung des Wohngebäudeparks
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Energy-efficient refurbishments require considerable financial resources. They result in market appreciation due to the refurbishment, improved convertibility of the property and additional rental income. Wüest Partner has comprehensively modelled how often and under what conditions this is economically worthwhile for property owners for the Swiss residential building stock.
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More >
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How Does Climate Risk Affect Global Equity Valuations? A Novel Approach
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This publication adapts established valuation techniques in an innovative way to assess how the value of global equities can be affected by physical climate damage and by transition costs for different degrees of aggressiveness of the abatement policy. The topic is not only relevant for investors, but also for regulators, who want to understand how the climate-sensitive assets held by systemically important financial institutions may deteriorate in value and, by so doing, endanger the liquidity and solvency of the institutions, and threaten financial stability.
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More >
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Kind Regards
The SSF Team
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SWISS SUSTAINABLE FINANCE
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