The real estate sector emits around on quarter of Switzerland's total greenhouse gases. The federal government and cantons therefore want to significantly reduce energy consumption in the Swiss building stock and cut CO2 emissions with their buildings programme. Against this backdrop, the asset management of indirect Swiss real estate investments is also challenged. The investment universe for indirect Swiss real estate investments is very broad and ranges from shares and funds to investment foundations. More and more investment vehicles are reporting sustainability figures or have defined a binding CO2 reduction pathway. However, there is hardly any standardised information or data available. Due to the different legal structures and the currently still heterogeneous data landscape, we have opted for a proprietary sustainability approach.
In order to address the problem of data availability described above, we have been conducting an annual sustainability survey with the respective managers of the investment vehicles together with our sustainability team in Asset Management at Zürcher Kantonalbank for a few years now. The survey covers topics such as climate strategy, energy consumption, stakeholder integration and tenants' right to have a say. After data validation and various consistency checks, the data is aggregated. The questions are assigned to the four dimensions of controversies, ESG, SDG1 and climate, all of which are weighted equally in the calculation of our proprietary sustainability rating.
One-to-ones with the responsible managers
The findings from our questionnaire are discussed in greater depth in individual meetings with the respective managers of the real estate vehicles. The sustainability strategy is also discussed. The resulting findings and the ranking in our sustainability rating are incorporated into our fundamental assessment, which is decisive for our active positioning. We also want to recognise any sustainability risks of the individual real estate vehicles at an early stage so that we can manage them accordingly. We also use the results of the sustainability survey to create transparency for our customers. The most important results are presented in a sustainability report, which is constantly being expanded due to the increasing availability of data.