Sustainable funds: Invest strictly sustainably
Sustainable funds focus on returns and societal benefits. We invest in companies and countries that make a significant contribution to fulfilling at least one of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG leaders) or are characterised by above-average ESG performance (ESG leaders).
- 1 You are at the forefront on the journey towards more sustainability.
- 2 You align yourself with the <2-degree or 1.5-degree target of the Paris Agreement.
- 3 You invest in positive solutions for the environment and society according to the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs).
Our investment process for Sustainable funds
We look for states and companies with a positive societal impact and which are able to implement necessary changes. To achieve this, we focus on ESG leaders and SDG leaders. This minimises our selection, but optimises the choice of securities. For the selection of ESG leaders, we identify the most sustainable states and companies with our best-in-class principle and our own media research based on all our ESG criteria.
Our Sustainable investment universe
For the Sustainable funds, we only take into account companies and states that do not violate an exclusion criterion and either have a positive influence on at least one UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG leaders) or score above average with their ESG criteria (ESG leaders). Our SDG analyses allow us to discover SDG leaders that are still underestimated and undervalued.
The sustainability standards for all Sustainable funds
Investment stewardship
As an active asset manager, we demand and promote sustainable business practices as well as adherence to recognised international principles and ESG best practice standards. To this end, we actively exercise voting rights for our investors in line with our sustainable thinking and strategy and conduct a forward-looking dialogue with the companies invested.
Exclusion criteria to avoid controversies
We have defined framework conditions for environmentally and socially responsible investments. In addition to the exclusion criteria based on SVVK-ASIR and the Responsible exclusion criteria, we apply a range of further exclusions to the Sustainable funds. The aim is to avoid investments in states and companies with controversial business practices.
ESG integration
We consider ESG criteria (E for Environment, S for Social and G for Governance) with different categories in the financial analysis. This way, we recognise sustainability and investment risks early in our multi-stage investment process, minimise them and make informed investment decisions.
Paris Agreement
As a pioneer among Swiss asset managers, we align our investment activities with the 2-degree target or even the 1.5-degree target of the Paris Agreement and implement a CO2e reduction target of at least four percent per year. We reduce investments in CO2e-intensive companies and states without a strategy for reducing their CO2e emissions in favour of CO2e-efficient companies and states.
Invest in SDG securities
Sustainable funds allow you to reconcile returns and social benefits. We focus on companies that have a sustainable effect because they offer products or services that positively influence one or more of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs).
