Sustainable Finance gained further traction throughout 2021, not only driven by growing client demand and regulatory requirements, but equally by voluntary action from the financial sector. The launch of the Glasgow Finance Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) in the run-up to the Climate Summit COP 26 brought about much more concrete commitments of financial players to actively support the timely achievement of a net zero economy. Net zero was also a key topic for SSF: in a call to our members we encouraged them to commit to one of the GFANZ initiatives and through different webinars we provided background information. By the end of 2021, already 25 of our members had committed to one of the initiatives.

A key milestone in the past year was the launch of the Report “The Transition to a Sustainable Future – Roadmap for key Swiss Financial Market Players” in the context of the “Building Bridges Week”. This Roadmap sets out concrete measures to be taken by Swiss financial market players in order to accelerate the achievement of global climate goals and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and is the basis for an on-going dialogue with our stakeholders.

In light of the growing concerns surrounding greenwashing, promoting further transparency on sustainable finance was also high on the agenda of SSF. In June 2021, we launched our “Reporting Recommendations on Portfolio ESG Transparency”, listing performance indicators for all three ESG dimensions. Later in the year, we further contributed to the transparency discussion with our “Recommendations on transparency and minimum requirements for sustainable investment approaches and products”, prepared jointly with the Asset Management Association Switzerland (AMAS). Both reports will support investors in providing meaningful reporting on their sustainable investments, thereby fostering client trust.

A regular dialogue held with our members, the federal administration, other finance associations and further key stakeholders proofs of the growing influence and weight of SSF and is the basis for our on-going work aiming to make sustainability an inherent part of all segments of the Swiss financial market. This report – for the first time in an online-format – provides a concise overview on our activities throughout 2021.