Frankfurt has been chosen as the seat of a new sustainable finance reporting body announced at COP26 this week. Observers say Geneva was overlooked largely for political reasons.
Switzerland, an ambitious player in the area of sustainable finance, was keen to attract the ISSB headquarters to Geneva – an “ideal location” due to its independence, neutrality, and proximity to international organisations, the finance ministry said in August.
In the end, however, the German city of Frankfurt was chosen, a decision which according to the Le TempsExternal linknewspaper was based on political pressure, notably by the European Union (EU), who didn’t want the body in non-member Switzerland.
The EU’s stance was entrenched by current bad relations with Switzerland after the shelving of discussions on an institutional agreement in May, the paper writes, citing several sources.
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Swiss sustainable finance: world leader or wishful thinking?
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Defining the exact nature of sustainable finance and measuring its performance is an ongoing challenge that needs to be solved.
Geneva’s candidacy “made a strong impression at the highest level and we hoped to win, but when it emerged that the seat would go to an EU member which is also part of the G7, Geneva was out of the equation”, said banker Patrick Odier.
Switzerland nevertheless remains ambitious in the area of sustainable finance, a spokesperson for the Swiss State Secretariat for International Finance told Le Temps, echoing the comments of finance minister Ueli Maurer on Wednesday.
Indeed, over the past decade, sustainable investments in Switzerland have risen from CHF40.6 billion to CHF1.16 trillion ($42.7 billion to $1.2 trillion), leaping by 62% in 2019 alone, according to the Swiss Sustainable Investment Market Study 2020.
The ISSB will publish its first batch of global norms for climate-related company disclosures next year. Up to now, disclosure practices among companies have been largely voluntary and based on loosely-defined environmental, social, and governance (ESG) standards, Reuters writes.
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Climate activists take Swiss finance regulators to task
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Environmental group Greenpeace has filed a formal protest against Switzerland’s financial regulators over their perceived failure to impose climate policy rules.
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Hands-off regulation of sustainable finance draws mixed response
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Unveiling a report on sustainable finance on Friday, Finance Minister Ueli Maurer said legislators would stay in the background as a last resort measure. However, the report identified a number of criteria it would monitor and called for improvements in some areas. Banks, pension funds, insurers and asset managers are expected to step up efforts…
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