04 Juni 2017 | News,

Swiss Philanthropy Foundation participated to the 8th GFSI edition, the Geneva Forum For Sustainable Investment which took place in Geneva on 1st June 2017

This event has been the occasion to reveal some data of the annual study led by Swiss Sustainable Finance on the sustainable investment market in Switzerland, which increased by 39% this year. Today, the authorities seem more sensitive to the topic of sustainable investment, such as the Federal Council that mentions it in its new financial market policy as one of two innovation fields promoting growth.

The question of sustainable investment for foundations has been brought to the table during one panel discussion bringing together Etienne Eichenberger, President of Swiss Philanthropy Foundation and Catherine Baud-Lavigne, Financial director of the Chaîne du Bonheur.

As a founding member of Sustainable Finance Geneva and Swiss Sustainable Finance, Swiss Philanthropy Foundation has been involved for a long time in the devolvement of sustainable investment and is sensitive to the “Mission Related Investment” issue.

A financial commission has been created in 2015 as a result of the Foundation’s governance. It assists the Foundation’s Board in its oversight duty of the investments made and the mandates given. This is made in regard of the purpose and the mission of the Foundation, both concerning its own funds and the allocated funds it owns.

We are sensitive to the topic of sustainable investment in the management of our assets, however we must also respect our donors’ choices in order to find a balance between the leadership on this topic and listening to the donors. We expect however from our banking partners, eight in number today, a larger offering in order to answer this growing demand” concludes Etienne Eichenberger.

Sustainable Investment in Switzerland (Extract from the Sustainable Investment Market Report 2017)