For slow gradual changes it’s sometimes hard to discern if anything is moving at all. With the final statements of the Biodiversity COP 15 and the Climate COP 29 leaving many of us disappointed, those working to bring about sustainable change can get the feeling of no progress whatsoever. Now that the 10th year of SSF is coming to an end, I take the opportunity to look back at the past 10 years to gain an overview of longterm trends.

In the 2014 market study, sustainable investment volumes in Switzerland totalled to CHF 56.1 billion, 10 years later respective investments amounted to CHF 1660 billion – about 30 times more. While in 2014 it was less than 1% of Swiss pension funds having anchored sustainability principles in their investment regulations, this share lies now at 39%. It was only in 2014 when SIX listed the first green bond in Switzerland by the European Investment Bank. Today, SIX has 149 sustainable bonds listed in four categories, including one of the Swiss Government launched in 2022. Although none of these facts stand for an immediate positive impact, it is clear that sustainable finance has become mainstream over the past 10 years and therewith a lever for change.

The latest climate statistics make us aware that this lever is needed more than ever. Being in discussions with so many finance experts working on impactful initiatives during the Building Bridges Action Days 2024, last week, nevertheless leaves me hopeful that the gradual change we saw over the past 10 years is defying the recent headwinds and contributing to positive developments. By establishing the Swiss Platform for Impact Investing, SSF hopes to accelerate the growth of impactful finance.

I wish you a cheerful holiday season and look forward to continuing to make finance a true lever for change with all of you.

> Visit our website for more about these and other SSF activities

Swiss News

• The Finanzplatz Initiative was launched with the objective to ensure that finance no longer flows into activities that cause climate change or environmental destruction, including a ban on financing and insuring new projects to extract fossil energy reserves. The initiators have time until end of March 2025 to collect 100’000 signatures.
• The Swiss Federal council decided that the Climate and Innovation Law (KIG) will enter into force on 1 January 2025.
• There is currently an open consultation on amendments to the Ordinance on Reporting on Climate Matters running until the 21 March 2025. This ordinance has been in force since January 2024 and requires TCFD reporting

Market News

• AMAS has published an engagement letter calling on Swiss companies to adopt strong corporate governance and sustainability practices to align with international standards and contribute to a climate neutral economy.
• In an analysis of 70 countries, ASCOR, an investor-led project focusing on sovereign climate progress, found that no country has a 2030 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) target ambitious enough to align with their national 1.5°C goal and only 16% of countries have transparent and credible commitments.
• A new methodology for assembling net-zero aligned portfolios was published by the CFA Institute. The methodology is based on emission data, including direct and indirect emissions, to select investments that align with a dynamic carbon budget which decreases over time according to science-based decarbonization pathways.
• According to a paper by the European Banking Authority, the corporate loan portfolios of large EU banks currently imply an average temperature rise of between 3.7°C and 4.1°C and are thus incompatible with the agreed target of the Paris Agreement.
• In a press release, the Luxembourg Sustainable Finance Initiative has announced that, under the guidance of its Impact Investing Advisory Board, it has been appointed Luxembourg’s National Partner of the Global Steering Group for Impact Investment.
• PCAF published the new methodologies for financed and insurance-related issues. The public consultation will run until 28 February 2025, after which the various working groups will assess the feedback and make possible adjustments to the methodologies. Further information can be found on the PCAF website.

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

• Banque Cantonale de Genève (Bank)

The full list of our members and network partners, now standing at 263, can be found here. 

• 15 December 2024, «La finance restera durable… dans son propre intérêt» (paywall), Tribune de Genève
• 12 December 2024, La Suisse veut devenir un pôle de la finance d’impact (paywall). Le Temps,
• 12 December 2024, « Il n’y a pas de paradoxe à ce que la finance durable soit aussi synonyme de rentabilité » (Interview with SSF President Patrick Odier), SwissPowerShift
• 10 December 2024, La demande pour une plateforme de dialogue ne fait qu’augmenter (Interview with SSF President Patrick Odier), Allnews
• 9 December 2024, Neue Plattform soll Impact-Investing in der Schweiz ankurbeln, Tippingpoint
• 6 December 2024, AMAS Urges Swiss Firms to Follow Global Sustainability Standards, KnowESG
• 5 December 2024, AMAS fordert internationale Nachhaltigkeitsstandards, investrends.ch
• 5 December 2024, L'AMAS exige des entreprises suisses des normes internationales de gouvernance et de durabilité, Allnews

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