Sustainability and asset management – do they even fit together?
Iwan Deplazes: Yes! I even go a step further and say both topics cannot be separated from each other.
Please explain what you mean.
Sustainability involves many aspects. The now common abbreviation ESG – E for Environment, S for Social and G for Governance – is only part of this. Take retirement provision, for example. This needs to be sustainable in two ways. On the one hand, investors need good returns in order to have a secure income in old age. On the other hand, sustainability must be an integral part of asset management.
What approaches does Zürcher Kantonalbank take to guarantee sustainability?
Zürcher Kantonalbank's Asset Management takes ESG integration into account in every investment decision and analyses how companies and countries perform in terms of sustainability criteria. In this way, we weigh up whether and, to what extent, we get involved. The allocation of funds is a strong signal in itself. We always keep the entire portfolio in mind. In concrete terms, this means we do not categorically rule out as investments those companies with comparatively high CO2 emissions that also show good progress in reducing these emissions.