The Swiss pension fund of the canton of Freiburg – Pensionskasse des Staates Freiburg (PKSF) – has shifted assets worth over CHF2bn (€2.1bn) into sustainable equity and bond funds with Swisscanto, Lombard Odier Investment Management (LOIM) and UBS Asset Management, it announced in its first sustainable investment report.

The scheme has opted to invest a “large part” of its bond holdings in Swisscanto’s sustainable funds, it said. It has allocated around CHF450m in bonds (denominated in foreign currency), and CHF600m in bonds (denominated in Swiss francs) through sustainable funds.

Swisscanto’s sustainable funds invest in government and corporate bonds meeting strict ecological and social sustainability requirements, and applying specific exclusion criteria.

PKSF has also invested CHF385m in LOIM’s ‘Target Net Zero’ fund, allocating assets in foreign equities in developed markets, the report added. LOIM’s fund aims to manage the risks associated with climate change, reduce the scheme’s carbon footprint and accelerate the transition to climate neutrality.

The scheme has also handed over two mandates to UBS to roll out the manager’s ‘Climate Aware’ strategy, by investing over CHF400m in foreign equities in developed markets, and over CHF260m in Swiss equities.

UBS’s ‘Climate Aware’ strategy adopts a forward-looking approach based on companies’ current carbon footprint, and energy sources used, looking at how credible the companies’ future commitment to carbon reduction are, the scheme explained.

“Opting for direct mandates allows us to strictly implement exclusions set out in our Responsible Investment Charter,” it added.

PKSF has opted to invest one-third of its assets totalling CHF6.2bn in sustainable funds to pursue an investment policy consistent with its Responsible Investment Charter adopted in 2021.

Back then, it committed up to 10% of its total assets to impact investments or linked to the real economy.

Thematic, innovative and impact investments fall under the ‘satellite’ investment category with higher potential for returns, but they also carry a higher investment risk than ‘core’ strategies, according to the Charter.

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Luigi is IPE's Berlin-based DACH correspondent. His coverage includes regulation and the latest pensions and investments trends, and, being a native Italian, he also covers Italy’s pensions market. He has reported from Italy and Germany on international politics and business for European and US publications including USA Today, Bloomberg BNA and for the investigative magazine L’Espresso. He was previously Germany correspondent for Mergermarket covering M&A.View full Profile

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