Laurent Matile

Impact Investment has gained popularity, particularly in Switzerland, a country known for its financial system and its aspirations for sustainable finance. As impact investing is often presented as a panacea for development challenges, Alliance Sud’s study takes a critical look at its effectiveness, its limitations and the extent to which it can contribute to sustainable development.

Many people favour greater use of private funding to cover current and future contributions from the countries in the North to those in the South in their fight against climate change. A stocktake by Laurent Matile

The Federal Council wants to allocate to the Swiss private sector 500 million earmarked for reconstruction in Ukraine. This certainly does not serve the interests of Ukraine's economy and enterprises.

To align themselves with the Paris Agreement, banks have established and extolled the virtues of voluntary climate alliances. A recent European Central Bank study shows them to be ineffective.

In October 2023, the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) took a decision that has largely escaped public notice. It is about including "private sector instruments" in development financing, and could hold far-reaching implications for the poorest countries in the South.

In 2015, governments committed to aligning financial flows with the climate objectives of the Paris Agreement. Where do things stand with implementation? What is Switzerland doing? A stocktake.

Even at the height of the climate crisis, gas mega-projects are being mounted in Mozambique by oil majors, including TotalEnergies, in which the Swiss National Bank holds a stake. These projects are fuelling conflicts while not benefiting the people.

Since the UN Conference on Financing for Development in Addis Ababa in 2015, the international community has been almost at one in repeating the mantra: only by mobilising private finance will it be possible to fund the Sustainable Development Goals.

In signing the Paris Climate Agreement in 2015, the international community pledged, among other things, to orient financial flows towards a low-carbon economy. Switzerland is moving along that path – but in very small steps.