Swiss financial sector still stuck in fossil fuels: report

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.