The 2022 Swiss Sustainable Investment Market Study demonstrates a Swiss market with high sustainable investment volumes of close to CHF 2 trillion, corresponding to a 30 percent increase from 2020. Such high growth rates can largely be explained by the increasing mainstreaming of different sustainable investment approaches, alongside the positive market performance in 2021. In light of the growing volumes, it is important to keep in mind that there exists no black and white definition of what is a sustainable investment and what is not. Seeing the growing concerns around greenwashing, giving clearer guidance on different levels of sustainability is an important next step. Equally, providing clarity to retail investors about objectives and mechanisms of sustainable investments is also key. SSF’s newest publication, the “Practitioners' Guide”, prepared in cooperation with EY, provides guidance on how to best inform clients about the sustainability characteristics of financial products. We thereby support the work by other actors within the Swiss market such as SBA with their new self-regulation for integrating sustainability criteria into investment and mortgage advice.

Over the course of the past weeks, different SSF events offered opportunities for the sustainable finance community to meet and learn about next hot topics to be tackled. A highlight was the SSF Annual Conference with the keynote from Nestlé CEO Mark Schneider and an in-depth discussion on the role of finance for biodiversity. We hope to continue to see many of you at other events we are already planning for the second half of 2022.

Wishing you a good summer break!

Swiss News

• The Federal Council unveiled the Swiss Climate Scores, a set of indicators providing transparency on the Paris alignment of financial investment. SSF contributed to the development of this important tool giving private investors meaningful, comparative information on the extent to which financial investments are aligned with the Paris goals. Read joint media release of SBA, AMAS and SSF on the Climate Scores.
• The Swiss Bankers Association (SBA) introduced two self regulation guidelines for minimum requirements for integrating sustainability criteria into investment and mortgage advice. The new guidelines are binding for SBA members and come into force 1 January 2023.  Read the media release and the corresponding documents on SBA's website.

EU News

• On 6 July 2022, the European Parliament voted in favour of labelling investments in gas and nuclear power plants as sustainable investments – against the original intention of the taxonomy and the recommendation of experts, including the EU Platform on Sustainable Finance. This will enable investors and states to subsume investments in these technologies as green, starting 2023.

International News

• The TNFD (Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures) released version 0.2 of its  beta framework for nature-related risk and opportunity management and disclosure. Ongoing market feedback will support the further design and development of the TNFD recommendations due in September 2023.
• GFANZ (Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero) published five publications on transition planning. View the overview here.
  • Recommendations and Guidance on Financial Institution Net-zero Transition Plans
  • Guidance on Use of Sectoral Pathways for Financial Institutions
  • Introductory Note on Expectations for Real-economy Transition Plans
  • 2022 Concept Note on Portfolio Alignment Measurement
  • The Managed Phaseout of High-emitting Assets

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

• Enabling Qapital AG (Asset Manager)
• Schweizerische Rentnerstiftung SRS (Asset Owner)

 The full list of our members and network partners, now standing at 213, can be found here.

• 1 September 2022, Aarau, Stiftungssymposium
• 22 September, Vaduz, Liechtenstein Workshop of Sustainable Finance 2022
• 23 September 2022, Lugano, ZHAW/SSF Conference: Innovation in Sustainable Finance and Commodities.
• Save the Date 3-6 October 2022, Geneva, Save the Date: Building Bridges Week 2023
  • SSF Events:
    • 4 October, 16:00-18:30 - Innovative Blended Finance Solutions for Impact
    • 5 October, 14:00-15:30 - Sustainable Investing 4.0: Big Data and AI for Maximal Impacts
    • 5 October, 16:00- 17:30 - TNFD as a Solution to Address Biodiversity Risks and Dependencies
• Save the Date: 6 October 2022, Zurich, SFI/SSF Sustainable Finance Conference

• 10 June 2022, Le boom un peu suspect de la finance durable, Le Temps
• 10 June 2022, Un franc sur quatre est durable, La Liberté
• 10 June 2022, L'essor de la finance durable soulève des questions, L’AGEFI
• 9 June 2022, Sustainable Investment Makes Swiss Inroads, finews.ch
• 9 June 2022, Nachhaltige Anlagen erreichen ein Allzeithoch, Finanz und Wirtschaft
• 9 June 2022, L'investissement durable a bondi de 30% l'année dernière en Suisse, L’AGEFI

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