At the annual conference of Swiss Sustainable Finance, members elected a successor to the retiring Michael Baldinger.
With Christine Gugolz, Lead Sustainability Strategy at UBS, members of the Swiss Sustainable Finance (SSF) association elected an experienced sustainability expert to its board at its annual conference yesterday, according to a statement released today.
Gugolz replaces Michael Baldinger, chief sustainability officer of UBS, who stepped down at the end of his six-year term. Gugolz leads the development and implementation of UBS's sustainability and impact strategy and ensures the alignment of sustainability-related projects and activities across the firm.
Two Key Issues
How finance can effectively contribute to transitioning to a climate-friendly economy, and how can it occur in a way that reduces, rather than increases, global economic inequality, were the two main issues of the conference.
In her presentation, Daniela Stoffel, the Finance Ministry's State Secretary for International Finance explained how the Federal Council is concretely promoting the goal of a leading sustainable Swiss financial industry and underlined the importance of higher transparency for sustainability goals.
The Road to Climate Neutrality
Swisscom CEO Christoph Aeschlimann discussed the challenging path to climate neutrality, which his company is striving to achieve by 2040. He advocates for large companies to take responsibility beyond their direct sphere of influence. One way to do this is by supporting innovative startups, indirectly accelerating the transition.
In the final panel discussion, SSF chairman Patrick Odier, Reto Burkard, head of Climate at the Federal Office for the Environment, and Peter Bakker, chairman and CEO of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development talked about the need for shaping climate strategies in ways that reduce global economic and social inequality.
