Swisscanto ESG Country Rating 2026: Switzerland is runner-up
Following last year’s setback, Switzerland has climbed two places in the Swisscanto ESG Country Rating. Has the country become that much more sustainable in just one year? Ruben Feldman investigates the reasons behind this improvement.
Author: Ruben Feldman, Head of ESG Strategy & Business Development
Key points on the Swisscanto ESG Country Rating 2026:
- In Zürcher Kantonalbank’s ESG country rating, Switzerland now ranks second behind Denmark. The decisive factor is, above all, the country’s relative strength across all sustainability dimensions.
- Northern European countries continue to occupy the top positions. Italy and Spain stand out for their movements, whilst Germany defends its place in the top 20.
- A positive trend in the ESG rating is generally welcome news for investors in government bonds: data shows a correlation between sustainability, economic factors and creditworthiness.
According to the Swisscanto ESG Country Rating 2026, Switzerland is now ranked second amongst the world’s most sustainable countries: this is a welcome finding from this year’s survey, which, as at at the end of September 2026, assessed a total of 198 countries across three sustainability dimensions (see info box and table below). Has the country really become that much more sustainable in the space of a year?
The analysis by the sustainability team in the Asset Management division of Zürcher Kantonalbank shows that it is not so much a sudden leap forward that is decisive, but rather the consistently high standard across all ESG dimensions – whilst other countries have lost ground. As a result, Switzerland has managed to climb two places compared with its 2025 rating.
Switzerland scores highly in governance
This moves Switzerland directly behind the long-standing frontrunner, Denmark. This is primarily thanks to very strong governance scores: Switzerland scores highly in this dimension with stable institutions, a high level of legal certainty and low perceived levels of corruption. Slight declines in individual environmental and social indicators are primarily due to methodological updates and do not represent a material deterioration.
The mechanism behind the Swisscanto ESG Country Rating:
At a time when the focus is primarily on the financial stability of countries, the Swisscanto ESG Country Rating broadens the perspective for investors: The Swisscanto ESG Country Rating is based on a proprietary ESG score that assesses countries using around 25 to 30 indicators per country across the three dimensions of environment, social and governance. The data is sourced from independent organisations such as the World Bank, the WHO, the OECD and the UN, and is designed to enable a comparison of the long-term resilience of economic and social systems. For investment experts in asset management, this analysis is a key piece of the puzzle in understanding government bonds.
As a result, Switzerland’s relative position has improved. Last year’s frontrunners, such as Norway and Iceland, have, by contrast, lost ground. Overall, however, the Scandinavian countries remain among the top 20 most sustainable countries. This also applies to various other European countries, although there have been some significant changes: Ireland’s rise of seven places compared with last year reflects progress in environmental and social indicators, whilst Estonia’s drop of five places is primarily due to weaker governance indicators and higher perceived geopolitical risks.
Mixed picture in the DACH region and Southern Europe
In German-speaking Europe (the DACH region), the picture is mixed: Switzerland (+2) and Liechtenstein (+5) have climbed the rankings. Although Germany scored higher on the ESG score, it remained in the same position in the ranking because its neighbouring countries showed similar trends. Austria slipped back to 14th place, a position it had already held in 2024. In Southern Europe, Italy improved by two places and now ranks 35th. This was despite a lower score in the environmental and social dimensions – though other countries performed even worse in these areas. In Spain’s case, however, a lower environmental score meant that the country dropped one place in the ranking to 31st.
Outside Europe, New Zealand (6th), Australia (11th), Canada (17th) and Uruguay (19th) made it into the top twenty most sustainable countries. The world’s largest economies, the US and China, occupy 40th (-1) and 121st place respectively in the ESG country ranking.
Swisscanto ESG Country Rating: The Top 20 in 2026
Rank |
Country |
Overall ESG rating |
Change in overall rating compared to 2025 | E rating |
S rating |
G rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
Denmark |
100.00 |
72.18 |
80.77 |
100.00 |
|
2 |
Switzerland |
98.43 |
+2 | 70.98 |
83.26 |
98.01 |
3 |
Norway |
97.88 |
-1 | 77.31 |
73.39 |
98.17 |
4 |
Iceland |
97.57 |
-1 | 97.57 |
85.77 |
93.33 |
5 |
Netherlands |
95.67 |
+3 | 65.67 |
75.65 |
96.81 |
6 |
New Zealand |
95.20 |
-1 | 53.77 |
72.03 |
98.35 |
7 |
Sweden |
95.16 |
-1 | 40.14 |
83.53 |
98.19 |
8 |
Luxembourg |
93.08 |
-1 | 71.22 |
70.16 |
94.10 |
9 |
Germany |
92.94 |
64.95 |
78.66 |
93.39 |
|
10 |
Principality of Liechtenstein |
91.95 |
+5 | 61.27 |
82.72 |
92.11 |
11 |
Australia |
91.74 |
41.36 |
74.63 |
95.65 |
|
12 |
Finland |
91.45 |
23.40 |
77.40 |
97.13 |
|
13 |
Ireland |
90.11 |
+7 | 82.44 |
74.25 |
88.75 |
14 |
Austria |
89.47 |
-1 | 66.33 |
82.81 |
88.71 |
15 |
Estonia |
89.33 |
-5 | 45.15 |
66.55 |
93.77 |
16 |
United Kingdom |
89.29 |
-2 | 65.18 |
79.56 |
89.16 |
17 |
Canada |
87.40 |
-1 | 58.80 |
71.45 |
89.14 |
18 |
Czech Republic |
85.06 |
46.75 |
70.12 |
88.26 |
|
19 |
Uruguay |
84.35 |
-2 | 93.00 |
49.40 |
84.96 |
20 |
Lithuania |
83.44 |
-1 | 67.78 |
45.92 |
87.65 |
Source: Zürcher Kantonalbank (as at the end of September 2026)
Our conclusions on the 2026 ESG country ratings
Against a backdrop of rising government debt, geopolitical tensions and climate risks, we believe that countries with strong ESG profiles offer a more robust framework for long-term growth. Accordingly, ESG scores may also become increasingly important for investors in government bonds: Our data spanning several years – including the 2026 update – shows a stable correlation between ESG scores and economic factors such as GDP per capita and creditworthiness. The ESG rating thus complements the assessments of traditional rating agencies and serves as an important additional indicator when evaluating sovereign issuers for the Swisscanto bond funds.
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