11/19/2020

How to finance a climate friendly economy? The Swiss Sustainable Finance report published today presents a range of solutions available to achieve this goal. There are two contributions from Ethos in this report: the benefits of shareholder engagement and the evolution of Swiss environmental legislation in recent years.

Switzerland wants to halve its greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and to cut them to zero by 2050. The financial sector is called upon to play a major role in achieving these goals. On Thursday, Swiss Sustainable Finance published a study devoted to financial instruments that can facilitate the transition to a low-carbon economy and society. This report, titled "Financing the Low-Carbon Economy - Instruments, Barriers and Recommendations", presents a range of financial solutions available today to achieve this.

Two representatives of Ethos contributed to this new publication. Matthias Narr, Head of International Engagement, details in his article the advantages of shareholder engagement using the example of the Climate Action 100+ initiative in which Ethos and the members of the Ethos Engagement Pool International (EEP International) actively participate. He shows how responsible investors, by working together and by allying themselves, manage to put pressure on the largest international companies to reduce their CO2 emissions in line with the Paris Agreements.

Rudolf Rechsteiner, Chairman of the Ethos Foundation, presents the framework conditions and legislation which have prevailed in Switzerland in recent decades in the field of the environment and explains why additional measures will be necessary if Switzerland intends to achieve its objective of carbon neutrality by 2050.

Both Ethos articles and the SSF report are available here.

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