Inclusion

Investments related to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are an ideal way to address specific sustainability topics, such as climate change mitigation and the transition to a net-zero emissions economy as well as social improvements.

In this context, we measure the real-world impact of our investments and align them to the SDGs. We currently focus on the seven SDGs shown in the graph “Our investments support the SDGs” below.

1. Selected metrics reflecting overall project or company impact.
2. Private equity impact KPIs’ generated by selected portfolio companies relating to 2020.

We review our green, social and sustainability bonds annually against the Green Bond Principles (GBP) and Social Bond Principles (SBP) issued by the International Capital Market Association (ICMA). We only include bonds in our target reporting that fulfil all four components of the ICMA GBP and SBP, respectively. In total, we held USD 3.9 billion in green, social and sustainability bonds issued in accordance with ICMA’s GBP and SBP at the end of 2021, which is more than 96% of our target of USD 4 billion, to be achieved by the end of 2024. In 2021, less than 5% of the bonds reviewed did not meet the criteria of ICMA’s two sets of principles.

In 2020, we set a target to increase our social and renewable energy infrastructure portfolio, which also includes energy efficiency, by USD 750 million by the end of 2024. As per the end of 2021, we held USD 1.0 billion of such loans, up by close to USD 100 million from 2020:

• 21% of our infrastructure investments were allocated to renewable energy, such as wind farms and solar farms.
• 2% of our infrastructure investments were allocated to energy efficiency.
• 21% of our infrastructure investments were allocated to social infrastructure such as hospitals, student dorms and affordable housing projects.

In our real estate portfolio, we focus on certified buildings, such as those adhering to the MINERGIE® standard in Switzerland. By the end of 2021, the value of our MINERGIE®-certified buildings reached USD 0.6 billion or 27% of our Swiss portfolio.

Furthermore, through our externally managed portfolio, we predominantly invest in the UK and US real estate markets, reaching a total size of USD 2.1 billion by the end of 2021. In both countries, our investment managers’ approach to sustainability includes striving for leading local certifications. For more information, please refer to our Financial Report 2021, “Climate-related financial disclosures”, page 174.