Swiss finance under scrutiny over climate impact

An aerial view of the Chevron El Segundo refinery, one of the largest petroleum processing facilities in California, US. Mario Tama / Getty Images

The Swiss financial sector continues to invest billions in global fossil fuel projects that generate up to 18 times more emissions than Switzerland alone. As a new people’s initiative demands tougher environmental rules around investing, what does the data show?

The country’s financial sector has spent years issuing climate reports, setting net‑zero targets and promoting sustainability strategies. But activists argue that these voluntary efforts have fallen short, with Swiss-based institutions still causing significant environmental harm abroad. Many continue to finance oil and gas firms, commodity traders and heavy industry.

Campaigners say banks, insurers and pension funds must be compelled to do more for the climate and nature, and to make the sector genuinely sustainable. In April, environmental groups including WWF and Greenpeace submitted signatures for a people’s initiative to trigger a nationwide vote. The Swiss Bankers Association saysExternal link the proposal addresses a genuine concern but is misguided.

This explainer maps out where Swiss money flows into fossil fuels, how authorities track those investments, and why their outsized carbon footprint abroad has become a political flashpoint.

Up to 18 times Switzerland’s emissions

Switzerland is a financial heavyweight. In 2024 its banks held around CHF9.2 trillionExternal link ($11.7 trillion) in assets under management, alongsideExternal link CHF2 trillion (2026 figure) in domestic and cross-border loans, including mortgages. The country is also a major hub for financing, insurance and reinsurance: in 2021, Swiss insurers alone held investments worth CHF574 billionExternal link.

While the finance sector generates 10% of GDP, its indirect carbon footprint abroad is massive.

A 2022 McKinsey study, based on official data, estimated that Swiss-financed loans and equities in carbon-intensive sectors account for 700-900 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent a year – roughly 14-18 times the nation’s annual domestic emissions. This excludes government bonds and capital-market transactions, suggesting the real total may be higher.

Illustration: Kai Reusser, Swissinfo

By law, government authorities and institutions must monitor climate risks in the finance sector. Authorities try to track this exposure through a biennial “climate test”External link using the international PACTA methodExternal link. This is an open-source tool that helps banks measure if their portfolios align with global climate goals by comparing their clients’ physical assets and five-year production plans against transition scenarios.

In 2024, 146 institutions took part voluntarily, showing fossil fuel exposure of 2.9% in corporate bonds and 2.2% in equities, with oil dominating.

Corporate investors help Switzerland make top-ten fossil fuel ranking

According to the 2024 Investing in Climate Chaos reportExternal link, a website that reveals the fossil fuel holdings of over 7,500 institutional investors worldwide, corporate investors held $4.3 trillion in fossil fuel stocks and bonds globally. These are held by pension funds, insurance companies, asset managers, hedge funds, sovereign wealth funds, endowment funds and asset management arms of commercial banks. Most of this investment in coal, oil, and gas companies comes from US investors but Swiss banks, insurance and pension firms held $80 billion in fossil fuel holdings in 2024.

Despite relatively modest exposure levels – still below the global  average of 3.3% – Swiss portfolios have edged up slightly since 2022. Analysts conducting the 2024 PACTA testExternal link pointed to a persistent gap between net-zero commitments and “climate-effective” action, largely caused by continued financing of oil expansion.

DataExternal link provided by the German NGO Urgewald shows the four largest institutional investors are all US-based: Vanguard ($444 billion), BlackRock ($430 billion), State Street ($184 billion) and Capital Group ($173 billion).

Swiss bank UBSExternal link ranks 15th globally, with $48.4 billion invested in firms like Exxon Mobil ($3.3 billion), Chevron ($3 billion) and Shell ($1.9 billion). Swiss banks and pension funds remain significant financiers of global fossil fuel expansion.

Swiss National Bank invests billions in fossil fuel-linked companies

Unlike most central banks, the Swiss National Bank (SNB) is a major global equity investor. By late 2025, it heldExternal link nearly CHF760 billion in foreign currency investments, with about 28%External link (roughly CHF190–200 billion) in equities. These include stakes in fossil fuel-related companies, mostly in the US, such as Exxon Mobil.

The WAV collective, an NGO that conducts research for the civil society climate coalition and activist network “Unsere SNB coalitionExternal link”, estimates the SNB’s fossil fuel-linked equities rose 17% between 2024 and late 2025 to $17.88 billion (reported and estimated). This is an increase from 230 fossil-fuel linked companies to 249, still representing roughly 8% of the overall SNB portfolio, according to WAV.

In its latest sustainability report,External link the SNB said its portfolio was linked to 11.9 million tonnes of carbon in 2025, up 7.5% on 2024.

The SNB argues that its narrow mandate – ensuring price stability while avoiding conflicts of interest – limits its scope to pursue climate goals. Parliament backed that position in April 2024, voting to keep explicit climate mandates out of monetary policy.

However, under recent legal changes, the SNB must assess climate-related financial risks specifically concerning the stability of the Swiss financial system and publish regular reports. The bank has updated its sustainability strategy and runs sensitivity calculations and stress tests to assess the climate-related risks of its investments, based on climate scenarios from the Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS).External link The SNB’s investment policy guidelines also exclude firms that violate human rights or “systematically cause severe environmental damage”.

Ten gas-fired power plants and 20 million tonnes of CO2 a year, say NGOs

Swiss Export Risk Insurance (SERVExternal link) is the official export credit agency of the Swiss federal government. It insures Swiss firms against commercial payment defaults and political risks when exporting goods or services and helps secure bank loans to facilitate international trade.

SERV’s export insurance for Swiss firms involved in fossil fuel projects abroad is under growing scrutiny. Around 20 NGOs accuse the authorities of supporting power plants abroad via such insurance. Activists protested outside the SERV office in Bern in February, arguing the country is breaching its COP26 pledge to end overseas fossil fuel financing.

Activists protested outside the Swiss Export Risk Insurance (SERV) office in Bern in February, 2026. arguing the country is breaching its COP26 pledge to end overseas fossil fuel financing. Greenpeace

As of 2023, SERV has given provisional or full backing to ten gas‑fired power plants abroad, say the organisations. They estimate this could generate nearly 20 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent annually – about half of Switzerland’s yearly emissions – and are calling for the projects to be halted.

SERV insists that it follows OECD rules, which allow export support for gas plants under certain conditions, such as replacing coal. Such facilities “often remain important for energy production and economic progress, particularly in developing and emerging countries”, Simon Denoth, senior vice president for public and government relations, told Swissinfo.

The agency says it provides insurance cover of CHF713 million for three plants and has agreed in principle to support three more worth CHF440 million in Vietnam, Turkmenistan, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Ivory Coast and Senegal. It confirms these projects would emit close to 20 million tonnes annually.

It insists it does not support coal, oil or peat projects and is expanding green financing in line with demand.

Over 145,000 signatures

In April, campaigners submitted over 145,000 signatures for a people’s initiativeExternal link calling for a “sustainable and forward-looking Swiss financial centre”. Backers of the “Financial Centre InitiativeExternal link” include politicians across the spectrum, along with figures from finance and civil society.

They argue voluntary measures have failed and that Swiss-based institutions cause significant environmental damage abroad by financing rainforest deforestation, oil expansion and coal mining, for example. The initiative would extend climate and biodiversity commitments across entire value chains, including indirect emissions.

If approved, financing and insurance for new fossil fuel reserves – or the expansion of existing ones – would be banned. A new authority would oversee compliance and impose sanctions.

The Swiss Bankers Association saysExternal link the proposal addresses a genuine concern but is misguided, warning it would deliver limited environmental benefits while creating risks for investors, jobs and Switzerland’s financial centre.

It arguesExternal link that Swiss banks already make a “substantial contribution to a sustainable financial centre” and that climate and biodiversity impacts arise mainly in the real economy, not in finance. “The financial sector can support the decisions of companies and individuals by providing finance,” it says. “but it cannot force these decisions.”

Edited by Gabe Bullard/Veronica De Vore