Switzerland Today
Hello from Bern,
Here are the latest news and debates doing the rounds in Switzerland on Wednesday!
Please note that on Thursday, November 4, there will be no briefing due to a SWI staff retreat. Normal service will resume on Friday.
In the News: the government has decided to grant a “Swiss” Covid certificate, valid for one year, to people who have recovered after contracting the virus.
- The certificate will be available to those who prove they had the virus with a PCR test, the government said on Wednesday. The extension only applies in Switzerland, since in the EU, “recovery” only gives a pass valid for six months. Authorities also said that people who prove immunity with an antibody test can receive the pass, valid for 90 days. Tourists vaccinated with non-Swiss approved vaccines including the Chinese Sinopharm and Sinovac can also get a certificate for 30 days.
- Swiss Finance Minister Ueli Maurer reckons the country’s financial sector is “probably one of the most environmentally-friendly in the world”. Maurer, who was en route to Glasgow and COP26, said Switzerland could become a world leader in sustainable finance: there is enough expertise and money here to make it happen, he said. However, he said it’s too early to legislate on sustainable investment as the financial sector is changing so fast.
COP26: as leaders talk in Glasgow about the role of the financial sector in causing climate change, Swiss banks try to invest sustainably – really?
Every day is COP26 day at the moment. But Wednesday, to be more precise, was “finance” day at the COP, with discussions focussed on the link between the financial sector and climate change. In short, banks and investors, who are no longer allowed to plead neutrality, have been increasingly criticised for investing in fossil fuels; more “sustainable finance” is called for. In Switzerland, banks have not escaped such criticism: yet as we reported in the news section above, Finance Minister Ueli Maurer said today that the country had “probably one of the most environmentally-friendly financial sectors in the world”. Is this true?
As Maurer himself said, it’s difficult to measure; this is also a conclusion of an investigation by public broadcaster RTSExternal link yesterday. RTS journalists found that many “green” investments cited by three Swiss banks were far from clean; “sustainable” portfolios included Nestlé, chemical firm Lonza, and cement-maker Holcim – Switzerland’s biggest CO2 emitter. Is it all greenwashing? It’s not so simple, RTS says: the “ratings” given to investment funds are calculated by external agencies, and indeed there’s no common definition of how to measure them – as Maurer said. And because the ratings don’t just measure environmental factors but also look at governance, oil groups (for example) can improve their score if they have (for example) more women on their board.
Confusing? It’s also a headache for those who want to invest sustainably, but who have no idea where, RTS writes. On the plus side, in Switzerland “sustainable” investment portfolios are very much on the rise: at the end of last year they totalled some CHF694.5 billion ($760 million) – an increase of 48% on the previous year. They are now even bigger than “traditional” investment portfolios. And at the global level, the Financial Times writesExternal link, 450 banks, insurers and asset managers signed a pledge in Glasgow yesterday that $130 trillion(!) of private capital is now committed to hitting net zero emissions targets by 2050. UBS and Crédit Suisse, are among the members of this “net zero” alliance.
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Shocking news: Swiss police association boss says she wants all units to be equipped with a taser.
If Johanna Bundi Ryser has her way, every patrol unit will soon include a taser – for situations involving “knives or other dangerous objects, and when the person doesn’t react to warnings”, Bundi Ryser told SRFExternal link. The debate has been ongoing since a case in August in Morges (southwestern Switzerland), when an officer shot dead a man coming at him with a knife. Anti-taser groups, including Amnesty International, say electroshocks are not the answer, and that they can also lead to death in some cases. Ryser says officers would be “thoroughly” trained. Currently police in some cantons use tasers, but sparingly; 96 times last year, says SRF.
Former EU negotiator says there’s no lessons to be learned for Switzerland from Brexit. Or is there? Swiss newspapers are confused…
The EU’s former Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, is interviewed in both Le TempsExternal link and the Tribune de GenèveExternal link today, with a main line of questioning being – of course – Swiss-EU relations. What insights does Barnier have? According to Le Temps (page 1), “Switzerland should take a lesson from Brexit”. Very good! But according to the Tribune de Genève (page 14), “There are no lessons to be learned for Switzerland from Brexit”. Aha! A change of heart in-between interviews? A smokescreen to confuse Swiss strategists? Most likely the issue was a hastily-written blurb by a stressed Le Temps journalist, since in both interviews, at least, Barnier is clear that the Swiss and UK cases “are not comparable”. He also says that although he “loves” Switzerland and has “strong Swiss links” (he grew up in the neighbouring Savoie region in France), this “doesn’t give [him] the right to give lessons”. No lessons indeed!
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