Swiss National Bank criticised for alleged $9bn fracking investment
The Swiss National Bank (SNB) has been slammed for what a coalition of environmental NGOs says is its $9 billion (CHF7.9 billion) investment in 69 oil and gas fracking companies.
Fracking accounts for over half of SNB’s roughly $16 billion invested in fossil fuel extraction, according to the report published by SNB Coalition and Climate Alliance Switzerland.
+ Switzerland grapples with challenge of greening its banks
A spokesperson for the SNB declined to comment. An SNB spokesperson told Le Matin Dimanche which wrote about the report earlier on Sunday that its investment policy is in line with “fundamental norms largely accepted in Switzerland” and that it’s constantly reviewing its portfolio.
+ Swiss National Bank accused of lagging behind in green investment
Fracking, which uses high-pressure liquid to release fossil fuels underground, triggered a huge boom in shale oil and gas in the US. But it has faced significant opposition, particularly in densely populated parts of Europe, because of the risks it can destabilise the ground and Switzerland is no exception.
Fourteen of Switzerland’s 26 cantons that reject fracking are also home to 69% of the population and own about 27% of SNB shares, according to the NGOs.
“Due to the broadly supported rejection of fracking by cantonal governments and the population, it can be considered a norm and value of Switzerland, which the SNB should also respect,” they said.
©2023 Bloomberg L.P.
This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. You can find them here.
If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.
External Content
Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.
Almost finished… We need to confirm your email address. To complete the subscription process, please click the link in the email we just sent you.
In compliance with the JTI standards
More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.