From 9–12 December, Building Bridges attracted over 3,000 professionals from banks, insurance companies, big corporations, governments, international organisations, NGOs and academia for more than 70 plenary sessions, discussions, and workshops. Combined with over 6,000 viewers online, attendance at the 2024 edition of Switzerland’s leading sustainable finance event reached a record high.
The view that sustainable finance is facing difficult headwinds in the current geopolitical and market environment was echoed through the many sessions, with speakers warning that the coming years will present a variety of challenges.
Referring to ‘transition fatigue’, Patrick Odier, Chair of Building Bridges, described it as a short-term deviation. He told participants that progress is not linear and explained that setbacks do not mean that we are off track.
David Blood, Senior Partner of Generation Investment Management, reminded attendees that fiduciary duties must evolve to include climate and social considerations and that it is not just about short-term returns, but about long-term value creation in a world facing existential threats.
UBP discusses financing the net-zero path to sustainable supply chains
As a silver sponsor, UBP co-hosted an interactive event with J. Safra Sarasin and Ernst & Young entitled, ‘Financing the net-zero path to sustainable supply chains’.
Panellists from UBP, J. Safra Sarasin, Ernst & Young, Siemens and the EU Platform on Sustainable Finance explored the challenges for mobilising private finance to decarbonise supply chains and what is needed to overcome these hurdles.
Representing UBP, Nicolas Barben, Global Head of ESG Solutions, spoke about the crucial role of private money to finance the transition and emphasised the need for ESG specialists and financial experts to work hand in hand to identify true investment opportunities.
Explaining the challenges surrounding sectoral proxies and high-level company data, Nicolas Barben said that, ‘we still have a long way to go to accurately measure the financial impact of environmental and social factors.’
While recent EU regulations such as the taxonomy for sustainable activities and the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) are asking corporates to disclose huge amounts of data, he warned that, ‘what we need is not more data points, but very fine ones.’
Barben also stressed the importance of changing the narrative when talking to clients to frame the issue as an investment case to improve the risk-return profile, and highlighted the importance of a well-diversified offering to pique client interest and meet fiduciary duties.
We need to be agile to find solutions and consider the whole value chain to find opportunities across different sectors.
Nicolas Barben, Global Head of ESG Solutions, Union Bancaire Privée (UBP)
Nature: The missing link
Once again nature was omnipresent across the many panels and sessions, given how it intersects with both climate and social issues.
According to the World Economic Forum, more than half of our global economy depends on nature, yet we treat nature as infinite and free. Andre Hoffmann, Vice Chairman of Roche Holding AG urged putting a price on nature: ‘It’s time to bring nature onto the balance sheet,’ he said on the opening day.
To sustain biodiversity, annual funding of between USD 600 billion and USD 800 billion is required, well above the current funding of less than USD 150 billion. In October, participants left COP16, the UN Biodiversity Conference, with no remarkable progress on nature financing which will be critical to implement the Global Biodiversity Framework adopted in 2023.
New initiatives launched
To enhance collaboration on nature finance between Geneva-based financial actors, Sustainable Finance Geneva (SFG) launched the Nature Finance Hub during Building Bridges; this aims to provide members with the tools, insights, and connections needed to embed nature risks into investment decisions.
Impact investing was also a popular topic at this year’s conference. On this occasion, Swiss Sustainable Finance launched the Swiss Platform for Impact Investing (SPII), bringing together players from the whole value chain of impact investing.
