Swiss association for responsible investments

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The Swiss Association for Responsible Investments (SVVK) is an association of institutional investors and was founded in 2015. The association provides services for its members so that they can gear their investment decisions towards the environment, society and the economy.

Members and Activities

Founding members are BVK Personalvorsorge des Kanton Zürich , compenswiss (AHV / IV / EO compensation fund ), comPlan, Swiss Post Pension Fund, SBB Pension Fund, Federal Pension Fund PUBLICA and Suva and thus mainly federal institutions. In total, these investors manage fixed assets of over CHF 150 billion. In 2018, two other institutions, Mobiliar and the Migros Pension Fund, joined the SVVK. In March 2019, the Basellandschaftliche pension fund was included in the SVVK. Also in 2019, Baloise Insurance announced that it was following the recommendations of the SVVK. The merger allows the members a more efficient organization of the provision of information about the company and the creation of transparency about the relationships between economy, environment and society. This makes it easier for members to carry out their fiduciary duty, which consists of taking ESG (Environment, Social, Governance) criteria into account in their risk management.

The services of the SVVK ​​range from basic development, screening and monitoring of portfolios, dialogue with companies, recommendations for exclusion, to communication and knowledge transfer. By examining the investment universe of its members, the SVVK ​​uses ESG criteria to identify problematic companies.

A targeted dialogue process is started with the companies classified as problematic, which is carried out by external providers. The SVVK ​​sees dialogue as the most effective instrument for representing the interests of its members. If the direct dialogue with a company classified as problematic takes place, but it does not bring about any improvement, the company will be placed on the SVVK's exclusion list. The list is continuously updated and made available to SVVK ​​members as a recommendation. The decision to exclude a title from the portfolio remains with the individual association member without restriction.

Examples of SVVK ​​activities

Recommendation to end investments in defense equipment

In March 2017, the SVVK ​​recommended its members to expel 15 arms companies from the USA, India, Israel, Russia, Romania and Korea whose products violate Swiss laws and internationally recognized conventions, namely the Ottawa and Oslo Conventions and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty . These agreements, ratified by Switzerland, prohibit the development, manufacture, storage, distribution and improper disposal of cluster munitions, anti-personnel mines and nuclear weapons.

This exclusion list was the SVVK's first concrete measure. PUBLICA followed this recommendation in June 2017, as did all other members of the SVVK. For example, while the BVK had already sold the companies on the exclusion list at this point in time, the SBB pension fund was on the verge of doing so.

Opinion on investing in fossil fuels

In March 2019, the SVVK ​​published a statement on the Paris climate agreement. In it, he explained how the Paris Climate Agreement was included in the normative basis of the SVVK ​​and how it was implemented as part of the SVVK's commitment. In this regard, the SVVK ​​stated that climate change is both an ESG factor and a risk factor to be taken into account in investment activities. The SVVK ​​will therefore actively demand climate-related financial reporting based on uniform reporting standards from CO 2 -intensive portfolio companies in the future . In addition, further options for the implementation of the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement for the members of the SIA were shown. One of these options for action consists in the targeted promotion of companies that make efforts to reduce CO 2 emissions and invest in renewable technologies. Another possible course of action is the sale (" divestment ") of shares, bonds and other investments of companies that cause high greenhouse gas emissions or that are not prepared to integrate the effects of climate change into their business model.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Swiss Association for Responsible Investments: SVVK. Retrieved July 17, 2019 .
  2. ↑ Kurt Speck: Earning money and doing good . Ed .: Swiss Insurance. February 2019 ( sfi.ch [PDF]).
  3. ↑ CompenSwiss: SVVK - ASIR. Retrieved July 17, 2019 .
  4. ↑ a b Swiss Association for Responsible Investments: Media. Retrieved July 17, 2019 .
  5. ↑ Basellandschaftliche Pensionskasse: Sustainable investment policy at BLPK. March 21, 2019, accessed August 17, 2019 .
  6. ↑ Marc Dünki: What is responsible investing? May 29, 2019. Retrieved July 19, 2019 .
  7. ↑ Patrick Uelfeti: Guest contribution PUBLICA: Responsible Investing . In: Federal Office for the Environment FOEN (Ed.): Environment . No. 02 . Bern February 2017 ( admin.ch [PDF]).
  8. ↑ a b Swiss Association for Responsible Investments: Activities. Retrieved July 17, 2019 .
  9. ↑ Swiss Association for Responsible Investments: Recommendations for exclusion. Retrieved July 19, 2019 .
  10. ↑ Dirty bomb business: Politicians and investors oppose jet manufacturers. In: Aargauer Zeitung. March 31, 2019, accessed July 20, 2019 .
  11. ↑ Michael Schäfer: Federal pension fund makes radical decision . Ed .: Neue Zürcher Zeitung. June 13, 2017 ( nzz.ch ).
  12. ↑ Yield not at any price - Largest Swiss pension fund is selling arms companies. In: Swiss Radio SRF. June 13, 2017. Retrieved July 20, 2019 .
  13. ↑ Michael Soukup: No more bomber investment . Ed .: Tages-Anzeiger. June 13, 2017 ( tagesanzeiger.ch ).
  14. ↑ Swiss Association for Responsible Investments: Statement by SVVK-ASIR on the Paris Climate Agreement. Retrieved July 19, 2019 .