The Swiss pension fund association ASIP has published reporting guidelines for Pensionskassen investments following ESG standards that will apply from 1 January.

The ESG reporting guidelines include the disclosure of qualitative information on how pension funds deal with this topic, and quantitative information on individual investments.

According to the guidelines, Pensionskassen would publilsh qualitative statements on the goals and principles of their sustainability strategies, underlining for example if they are anchored to investment rules, and the investment approaches for different asset classes, ASIP said.

Swiss pension funds should explain their exclusion policies, the criteria used to pull out companies from portfolios, and the number of companies excluded, the document added.

The pension schemes would also disclose the principles that apply with regard to stewardship, with reference for example to proxy advisors, voting rights recommendations, and basis for engagement, topics covered, and progress made under the engagement strategies, actions taken to decarbonise portfolios, and impact investments.

ASIP refers to ESG key data for quantitative reporting, split into a minimum standard for Pensionskassen starting to report, and extended key data for pension funds working on detailed ESG reporting.

Furthermore, pension funds should specify the key data available for asset classes and their sources.

With the set of guidelines ASIP aims to improve transparency for pension fund members on the integration and impact of ESG criteria in investments.

The reporting standards have been designed in partnership with the Swiss Asset Management Association (AMAS), Swiss Sustainable Finance, PPCmetrics, asset manager Avadis and KAICO Anstalt.

The guidelines are recommendations setting a self-regulatory framework, regularly reviewed, that will apply to Pensionskassen producing 2023 financial statements, published usually in Q1 2024.

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