The Swiss financial sector still invests too much in the production of oil and coal despite progress towards more climate-friendly investments, an official report said Monday.

"Overall, the Swiss financial centre now invests four times more resources in companies producing electricity from fossil sources such as coal or gas than in those producing from renewable sources," said the joint report by the Federal Office for the Environment and the State Secretariat for International Finance.

It is the second such report after the first was published in 2017.

Players in the Swiss financial market had the "climate compatibility" of their portfolios analysed on a voluntary basis.

"Progress has been made, but the goal has still not been reached if Switzerland wishes to play a leading role in the field of sustainable financial flows," the report said.

"Some 80 percent of participants hold securities in coal mining companies in their portfolios. On average, the Swiss financial centre thus supports further expansion of international coal and oil production, which goes against the 'climate objective'."

A total of 179 financial institutions took part in the study, including, for the first time, banks and asset management firms.

The report noted that the climate compatibility test attracted twice as many participants as in 2017, when only pension funds and insurance companies took part.

Despite the mixed results in terms of companies' carbon footprints, the report found that half of the firms involved in both the 2017 and 2020 tests had "taken measures in favour of the climate, based on the first test, and, on average, obtained better results than their competitors in the second test".

The report called for more concrete measures, estimating for example that "holders of real estate portfolios can have a major influence on the direct reduction of emissions".

It said pension funds were planning to switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy-based heating systems in 30 percent of their properties.

"On the other hand, other players in the financial sector have reported such measures in only one to two percent of their assets," said the report.

UN's Carney urges firms to profit from climate summit
London (AFP) Nov 9, 2020 –

United Nations climate envoy Mark Carney on Monday urged companies to seize on "the greatest commercial opportunity of our time" as Britain hosted a virtual summit on green investment with the UN chief and heavy hitters from finance.

The three-day "Green Horizon Summit" was opening on the day that the UN's next global summit on climate change, COP 26, was initially due to start in Glasgow.

But that gathering has now been pushed back to November 2021 by the coronavirus pandemic.

Achieving "net zero" targets on emissions "will require a whole economy transition, involving every company, bank, insurer and investor, and creating the greatest commercial opportunity of our time," former Bank of England governor Carney said.

Now the UN special envoy for climate action and an advisor to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Carney will set out a private finance strategy ahead of COP 26, according to a statement.

By next year's in-person summit, Democrat Joe Biden will be installed in the White House, and he has vowed to rejoin the UN's Paris Agreement on climate change after US President Donald Trump walked away from the international pact.

Before then, Britain and the UN will co-host a political gathering on December 12 to urge redoubled efforts to act on the emissions cuts already mandated in the 2015 Paris Agreement.

COP 26 will then chart the next steps to avert runaway temperature rises.

Companies have already been acting via investment products such as "green bonds" to take advantage of climate projects around the world, and organisers said this week's Green Horizon Summit would seek to accelerate financial innovation.

Other speakers will include UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, European Central Bank chief Christine Lagarde and Britain's Prince Charles, according to the statement from the UK-backed Green Finance Institute and the City of London Corporation.

From the world of finance, they said the green summit would be joined by Blackrock chief executive Larry Fink, who has committed the world's biggest investment fund to prioritise climate change in its holdings and pare down its stakes in coal projects.

The summit is also due to hear from Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and former New York mayor Mike Bloomberg, as well as the chief executives of HSBC, Barclays and Standard Chartered banks.

In addition, the event will debate "how private finance can work with government to ensure that green growth is able to boost the post-Covid global recovery", the statement said.