Credit Suisse making progress against our sustainability ambitions
On April 21, 2021, Credit Suisse was announced, alongside other industry leaders, as a founding member of the United Nation's "Net Zero Banking Alliance" and the "Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero". These important initiatives, led by Mark Carney, UN Special Envoy on Climate Action and Finance, support collaboration and highlight the critical role financial institutions and capital markets play in accelerating the transition of the global economy to net zero.
Also in April, Lydie Hudson, CEO of Credit Suisse's Sustainability, Research & Investment Solutions organization, outlined our focus on growth, disclosures and transparency on a panel at the Institute for International Finance (IIF) Sustainable Finance Summit. She stated, "I fundamentally believe that the financial services sector plays a very important role in creating a sustainable future."
The conference brought together top officials from the banking industry, public policy and associations including US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. Alongside fellow panelist Noel Quinn, CEO of HSBC Holdings Plc, and moderator Timothy Adams, IIF President, Lydie described the genesis of SRI's creation last summer. "From a Credit Suisse perspective, we took a long look at this last year in the midst of the pandemic to really reassess how we could be a better partner to our clients and create customized solutions and products for them to access a sustainable future as well."
She also outlined key features from Credit Suisse's Sustainability Report, which was released in March and included new disclosures pursuant to the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) standards for the first time as well as reporting in accordance with the Financial Stability Board's Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD).
From a Credit Suisse perspective, we took a long look at this last year in the midst of the pandemic to really reassess how we could be a better partner to our clients and create customized solutions and products for them to access a sustainable future as well.
Lydie Hudson
Such industry standards are important to establishing common data standards and rules of the road for sustainable investing, whose already rapid growth was further accelerated by the coronavirus pandemic. These and other sustainability priorities were discussed by Lydie and Iris Bohnet, Sustainability Leader on our Board of Directors, in a video introduction to the Report.
We see momentum across the bank, from growth in our assets managed according to sustainability criteria – which increased to CHF 118 billion at the end of the first quarter from CHF 108 billion at the end of 2020 – to our active support of our clients through the rollout of Climate Energy Transition Frameworks focused on Shipping, Aviation and Commodities Trade Finance.
"The scale of the challenge, the scale of the ambition that we're striving to achieve, coupled with the time period in which we're trying to achieve it and the immaturity of the frameworks, the data and underlying regulatory regimes and rules and laws make this fertile ground for great collaboration," Lydie said.
