Key takeaways from PwC’s annual Sustainable Finance Conference

Lesson no. 3: Client interactions require clear procedures and qualified advisors 

Francesca Spoerry, Head of Trainings and Outreach at the CSP at the University of Zurich, and Sofia Jaccard from PwC Switzerland demonstrated that setting sustainability targets is only the first step, and that the growing offering of sustainable investing products and services needs to be re-oriented for impact. She explained that there are three big barriers to integrating sustainable investing in daily business:

1. Lack of knowledge on the part of clients
2. Lack of products
3. Lack of regulation
   

On this basis, their recommendation is that client interactions related to sustainable investing require thorough procedures and qualified advisors.

Lesson no. 4: Avoid greenwashing

The next lesson emerged from a presentation by August Benz, Deputy CEO and Head of Private Banking & Asset Management at SwissBanking, the Swiss Bankers Association. He talked about how Swiss banks are contributing to the goals of the Paris Agreement by:

1. Integrating sustainable criteria into investment and mortgage advice
2. Avoiding greenwashing
3. Participating in net zero initiatives
4. Educating employees on ESG

He pointed out that guidelines already exist to help banks integrate sustainability criteria into investment and mortgage advice. You can find them here.

Lesson no. 5: Net zero is a key element of any ESG strategy 

The next insight is that net zero alliances and initiatives are becoming the standard for net zero engagements in the financial services industry, and that net zero is a key element of ESG strategy. In their presentation, Marc Lehmann and Antonios Koumbarakis, both from PwC Switzerland, explained how larger organisations are paving the way for this. They went into more depth about specific things that help address the challenges of net zero, such as a cross-functional approach, validating multiple net zero frameworks, and setting targets that focus on the impact on the real economy.

Lesson no. 6: You have to make your supply chain more transparent

Rupert Welchman, Portfolio Manager for Impact Equities at Union Bancaire Privée (UBP), and Grant Rudgley, Nature-related Finance Lead at the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL), showed that there is now data that can be used to assess certain nature-based financial risks. They explained that tools are available to capture the exposure of financial portfolios to natural hazard risks, and that some responses to natural losses can now be modelled with limited technical guidance. They also noted that initial assessments of natural risk encourage engagement within financial institutions and businesses, and that a lack of supply chain transparency is a major obstacle to assessing the extent of risks.