Post by Camille Delgrange

In the middle of massive heatwaves and a storm in Zürich, Swiss financial institutions are STILL bankrolling fossil fuel expansion through bonds, and through shares they don't always use as leverage. The new "Investing in Climate Chaos 2026" database from Urgewald and 25 partner organisations (https://lnkd.in/eUUZkWZb) shows that all Swiss investors analysed hold a combined 1.2 billion US dollars in fossil fuel bonds maturing in 2051 (!!) or later - one year beyond the net-zero deadline set by Switzerland and the Paris Agreement. UBS tops Switzerland's negative ranking by a wide margin, holding such long-dated fossil fuel bonds worth 467 million US dollars. It is followed by Zürcher Kantonalbank (171 million) and Vontobel (121 million). Switzerland as a whole ranks 8th among the world's leading investor countries in fossil fuels - UBS alone ranks 14th globally and 2nd in Europe, with 71.7 billion US dollars invested. Pictet Group (15.2 billion) and the Swiss National Bank (9.3 billion) follow as the country's next largest fossil fuel investors. And when it comes to the shares these institutions hold? The standard argument is "engagement" (using shareholder votes to push companies toward a transition instead of simply selling out). But the evidence on how that voting power is actually used tells a different story: - A 2023 report (https://lnkd.in/eGbRRrv9) by Reclaim Finance - NGO and BreakFree Suisse, based on Insightia voting data, found that across the 2022 AGMs of six major fossil fuel expanders (TotalEnergies, Shell, BP, Repsol, Glencore, Mitsubishi), Swiss asset managers and insurers - including UBS, Credit Suisse, Swiss Life, Pictet Group and Zurich Insurance - voted in favour of board re-elections almost universally, and largely against or only partially in favour of climate-related shareholder resolutions. Glencore was the rare exception where some Swiss investors voted their say on climate. - Greenpeace Switzerland and ZHAW Zurich University of Applied Sciences's June 2024 study of 14 major Swiss asset managers found that, while voting records were sometimes decent in isolation, the underlying commitment and engagement strategies behind those votes - the clarity of demands placed on portfolio companies, and the willingness to escalate when those demands go unmet - remain weak across the sector (https://lnkd.in/ebe-rd54). - Fondation Ethos is doing a great work and recommendations on this topic. Switzerland's population voted for the Climate and Innovation Act in 2023, which gives the Confederation Swiss Federal Administration a mandate to ensure the financial centre contributes to a Paris-aligned, low-emission pathway.