2. Introduction Over the course of more than 20 years, the advancement of sustainable investments1 has created a large and diverse offering that includes products and services for virtually every asset class, geographical region, and investment strategy. These investments have proven themselves to be comparable with conventional investment products in terms of risk and return, in many cases providing more-effective portfolio diversification. At the same time, they make an active contribution towards bringing the economy onto a more sustainable path. There are several reasons why institutional investors consider sustainability aspects when making investments. The three main criteria are •• complying with generally recognised international and national standards/norms or specific values defined by their own organisation within their investment activity, •• improving the risk/return profile of investments, and •• promoting sustainable development and business practices. More and more investors who manage wealth for third parties on a fiduciary basis have added sustainability criteria to their investment policy for one or more of these reasons.2 Recently, new regulations governing sustainability have been introduced in many European countries. The Ordinance against Excessive Compensation in Listed Corporations (VegüV)3 was Switzerland’s first bid to make active exercising of shareholder votes on specific themes obligatory for pension funds. Pressure from various stakeholders is steadily mounting. These include NGOs, who stress the responsibility of institutional investors, and members of pension funds, who want to see their assets invested in a responsible manner. In Switzerland, self-regulation is very important in many areas, including sustainable investment. The need to define a sustainable investment policy in a self-determined manner—as well as being as flexible as possible in its implementation—has already encouraged a number of Swiss institutional investors to go down this route. Many others have only just started discussions at top level to see whether, and how, such a step could be taken. One thing is clear: Switzerland has already built up enormous expertise in the area of sustainable investments, and anyone embarking on that course will not be alone. The huge choice currently available might actually
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