During the past two months, Swiss players have been hard at work, even throughout the crisis, to further advance the Swiss sustainable finance market.

The large mainstream financial industry associations (SBA, SVV, SFAMA) each released sustainable investment-linked recommendations and reports, proving sustainable finance is high on the priority list regardless of what else might be on their plates.

We too at SSF published our annual market study in June showing strong growth (62% y-o-y) in sustainable investment volumes. Our analysis of Swiss managed sustainable investments highlighted the increasing importance of more outcome-oriented approaches with largest growth rates seen for approaches such as ESG Engagement, ESG Voting and Impact Investing.

All these publications are fresh off the press this month! We wish you an interesting read and look forward to continuing to drive the movement forward.

Kind regards,

Kelly Hess

Director Projects, Swiss Sustainable Finance

SSF activities at a glance

Regulatory and market news

New members joining SSF

Join these events

SSF and sustainable finance in the media

New reports & studies

Sustainable investments hit new peak in Switzerland

The study also sheds light on recent trends in the Swiss SI market and includes a comprehensive chapter on regulatory issues. Download the full report here.

Market study launch webinar on Youtube

New industry recommendations

Sustainable finance podcast

Read more about these and other SSF activities

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Swiss news

• The Swiss Sustainable Fund Awards were presented in an online ceremony on 9 June. Among the winners in the 9 different categories were Swiss asset managers and SSF members Vontobel AM and GAM Investments.
• The Swiss Bankers Association published guidelines on the integration of ESG criteria into the investment advisory process, as well as a brochure in which it sets out areas of action.
• The Swiss Insurance Association (SIA) presented its first sustainability report of the insurance industry, covering progress in the areas of investments, underwriting and business operations.
• The Swiss National Council debated and passed a new proposal for the reform of the Swiss CO2 Act after having rejected an earlier draft in 2018. The text includes emissions targets for 2030 and 2050 (incl. domestic targets), a tax on petrol and plane tickets, and two articles pertaining directly to the financial sector. It will be put to final vote in the Council of States.
• After a long push and pull, the Swiss Parliament agreed on a counter-proposal to the Responsible Business Initiative. The initiative was originally filed in 2016 with the aim to make Swiss multinationals accountable for human rights abuses and environmental violations by subsidiaries elsewhere. The Swiss electorate will have to vote on both the initiative and the counter-proposal, since the original text has not been withdrawn by the initiators.

International initiatives

• The European Commission announced a Covid-19 economic recovery package with green conditions attached. The Next Generation EU recovery instrument aims to raise an additional €750 bn on capital markets and spending is set to be guided by the sustainable taxonomy.
• The past two months have shown considerable activity by central banks on sustainability and climate risk. The European Central Bank (ECB) launched a consultation on a guide on climate-related and environmental risks, while the central banks of Canada and Mexico both published analysis on the topic.
• The Dutch Central Bank has quantified the risk of biodiversity loss for the Dutch financial sector, an exercise that is first of its kind.
• Meanwhile, the Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS) released two new reports on climate risk management; a Guide for Supervisors and a Status Report.
• The International Capital Market Authorities (ICMA) launched the Sustainability-Linked Bond Principles (SLBP), which assess the trajectory of an issuer and its commitment to future improvements in sustainability outcomes. The SLBP are an addition to the existing green, social and sustainability bond framework.
• The International Platform on Sustainable Finance, created last year by the EU to encourage policy coordination on sustainable finance internationally, has two new members; Singapore and New Zealand.

Market trends

• Market data has shown that ESG funds performed relatively well during the pandemic. MSCI for example concluded that their global ESG indices outperformed and Morningstar reported that ESG funds continued to experience positive inflows during the first quarter of 2020.
• Global energy company Total has committed to net zero emissions by 2050 following Climate Action 100+ investor engagement.
• However, during this year’s AGM season, some asset managers raised concerns about such promises being empty words and continued to push for big climate resolutions that demand binding targets.

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

• Banca del Sempione SA (Bank)
• BancaStato Group (Bank)
• BRP Bizzozero & Partners SA (Service Provider)
• Graubündner Kantonalbank (Bank)
• QORE Switzerland SA (Service Provider)
• SIX Group AG (Serivce Provider)
• VZ Depotbank AG (Bank)

The full list of our members and network partners, now standing at 150, can be found on the SSF website.

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Upcoming sustainable finance events:

• 30 June 2020, Connecting Financial Flows with Biodiversity Targets, Webinar organised by UNEP-FI
• 24-25 August 2020, New Energy Investor Summit, Zurich
• 25 August 2020, Online Kongress: Vielfalt statt Verschwendung, Online event organised by eco.ch
• 1 September 2020, Swiss Green Economy Symposium, Winterthur (with an innovation forum on sustainable finance moderated by Sabine Döbeli)
• 3 September 2020, Geneva Forum for Sustainable Investments, Geneva
• 10-11 September 2020, St. Gallen Forum for Management of Renewable Energies, organised by the University of St. Gallen, St. Gallen

 Other activities & opportunities:

• The 6th edition of the Global Green Finance Index (GGFI) will be published this autumn, rating the world’s financial centres on the depth and quality of their green finance. You can give your opinion on the centres in which you have done business by filling in this survey.
• France has launched the third edition of its international climate-related reporting awards, open financial instituions from all over the world. Submissions can be made until July 13^th.

Further events are currently being planned – more information on our website

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• 18 June 2020, IPE, Swiss AM association draws guidance for sustainable investment
• 16 June 2020, Finews, Nachhaltigkeit: Jetzt kommt das Manifest der Fondsbranche
• 16 June 2020, Allnews, La SFAMA est engagée en faveur d’une économie financière durable
• 11 June 2020, IPE, Swiss investors shift focus on real economy impact of ESG policies
• 11 June 2020, Finanz und Wirtschaft, Nachhaltig anlegen ohne überlegen
• 10 June 2020, Handelszeitung, Schmutzige Aktien: Kritik an der Anlagestrategie der SNB
• 9 June 2020, NZZ, Das Coronavirus hat nachhaltigen Anlagen einen Kick gegeben
• 9 June 2020, Le Temps, La finance durable devient grand public
• 9 June 2020, Corriere del Ticino, La sostenibilità fa passi da gigante
• 8 June 2020, SRF 4 (Radio), Nachhaltige Anlagen sind im Trend – Gespräch mit Sabine Döbeli
• 8 June 2020, Reuters, One third of 2019 Swiss investment sustainable, study finds
• 26 May 2020, Responsible Research in Business & Management, Sustainable Finance in Corona Times (commentary by Prof. Dr. Timo Busch and Sabine Döbeli)
• 9 May 2020, SRF 4 (Radio), Pensionskassengeld nachhaltig anlegen – aber wie?

Visit our website for more articles and regular updates

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• June 2020: The Swiss Sustainable Investment Market Study 2020 again recorded strong growth in the Swiss SI market, with sustainable investments reaching CHF 1,163.3 bn at the end of 2019.
• June 2020: The Swiss Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) published a guide for investors wanting to engage on basin water security, as well as a corresponding water risk assessment methodology for public equity, in collaboration with South Pole.
• June 2020: In “What role for financial regulation to help the low-carbon transition?”, the Institute for Climate Economics (I4CE) examines the different objectives that regulators can pursue to help the financial sector respond to the climate urgency and provides an overview of the instruments at disposal.
• June 2020: The 10^th edition of the Annual Impact Investor Survey published by the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN) analyses the developments of the impact investing market over the past decade and looks at challenges going forward, including the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.
• May 2020: In the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, Financial Centres for Sustainability (FC4S) published a paper to support thinking on how to respond to the pandemic from a sustainable finance perspective.
• May 2020: The Centre for Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability (CCRS) at the University of Zurich assessed systems and instruments for corporate sustainability ratings, with a focus on SMEs (available in German).
• May 2020: A Greenpeace Switzerland report examined the financing of fossil fuel companies by two large Swiss banks.
• April 2020: The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision conducted a survey on initiatives of its members (central banks and supervisors) on climate-related financial risks. It found that many consider it appropriate to address climate-related financial risks within their existing supervisory framework, but have not yet factored, or considered factoring mitigation of climate risks into prudential requirements.

Read these and other reports in our Digital Library on Sustainable Finance

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