The trend toward sustainable investment in Switzerland is unabated, but there is still debate about what counts as sustainable.
Over half of investments made in Switzerland last year were sustainable, according to a market study by Swiss Sustainable Finance (SSF), but Greenpeace Switzerland accuses the industry organization of encouraging greenwashing by not being strict enough in its definition of what is sustainable.
Sustainable investments grew by 31 percent in 2021, pipping the growth rate of 30 percent the year before, bringing the amount invested to 800 billion ($819.2 billion) Swiss francs.
Growth was mainly driven by an increased focus on sustainable investment approaches, along with positive market developments last year, according to the report.
Impact vs. Values
The exclusion criteria category gained significantly in popularity, showing a 48 percent increase, followed by the ESG integration category which was up 24 percent.
Sustainable thematic investments became the most attractive category, growing 157 percent last year. This criterion was applied to almost ten percent of all sustainable investments in Switzerland, within which energy and societal concerns, such as community development and health as well as environmental issues, were prevailing themes.
The study shows that around one-third of the volumes implicitly aim to have a positive impact, while around one-fourth primarily intend to focus on values and around 40 percent primarily pursue financial goals.
Concept Dilution
Greenpeace Switzerland accuses SSF of diluting the concept of sustainability by including investments, which ignore companies’ impact on climate and biodiversity.
In Greenpeace Switzerland’s view, this practice encourages greenwashing in the financial sector.
