Investment:
Sustainability
As a long-term pension fund and investor, TRANSPARENTA assumes its responsibility towards the social environment and society as well as to preserve the natural environment. The goal is to generate sustainable value for our insured persons in the long term.
As Signatory of the “United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment” We are publicly committed to responsible investment and are committed to taking sustainability criteria into account in our investment decisions. In doing so, we always comply with the constantly evolving regulatory requirements in the area of ESG.
This is how we fulfill our duty of care:
- Stewardship: We promote sustainable developments through active dialogue with companies (engagement) and the exercise of voting rights (voting).
- Exclusion criteria: We consistently exclude companies with controversial business activities.
- Integration of ESG ratings: We invest specifically in companies with high sustainability ratings.
- Integration of climate aspects: We are optimizing our portfolio for a better ecological profile.
Stewardship
TRANSPARENTA exercises its direct voting rights in the general meetings of listed Swiss companies and relies on active involvement from specialized partners.
Principle: Through dialogue with companies and the exercise of voting rights, influence is exercised on corporate governance in order to promote sustainable business models, long-term value creation and transparent reporting. Ultimately, our insured persons benefit from this — today and in the future.
The term “active ownership” (active owner responsibility) is synonymous. Delegation of voting rights to a proxy advisor or fund management company (compulsory in the case of collective investments) is referred to as proxy voting.
Engagement is defined as the activity to obtain a better common understanding of responsible entrepreneurship through a proactive and cooperative dialogue and to encourage these companies to implement measures and achieve goals that have positive effects in the area of ESG. It also makes the corresponding investment processes and decisions easier to understand for them.
When it comes to engagement, it makes sense for many institutional investors such as pension funds, investors and civil foundations to pool their forces and votes in so-called engagement pools. These pools are managed by specialized agencies, which then engage in dialogue with companies on behalf of their members.
Our Stewardship Committee is responsible for the efficient and expert exercise of voting rights. In doing so, it takes into account recommendations from the sustainability agency Inrate.
The Stewardship Committee consists of the following members:
- Alex Tobler, Investment Commission Representative
- Barbara Heller, Investment Commission Representative
- Fabian Thommen, Deputy Managing Director
For each individual general meeting, the Stewardship Committee actively reviews Inrate's voting rights recommendations and determines the final vote. In 2025, at 88 general meetings and a voting rate of 100%, we voted as follows:
- Total agenda items: 1'737
- 1,503 assumptions
- 234 rejections = 13% rejection rate
Every year, we publish a detailed financial report with the disclosure of voting behavior for each individual general meeting.
On behalf of RSG, Inrate systematic dialogues with listed Swiss companies on environmental, social and governance (ESG) topics.
RSG membership enables TRANSPARENTA to participate cost-effectively in a professional engagement process and, in addition to having a say, receives transparent insight into the processes and results. The Stewardship Committee brings the Foundation's point of view to each individual annual meeting with Inrate and at the RSG meeting and makes suggestions for the further development of the commitment and voting rights guidelines.
- In 2025, Inrate carried out a total of 100 engagements (previous year: 95) from a universe of 164 companies, 15 of which were full engagements (previous year: 12) with personal meetings on all key topics.
- The core topics defined by RSG are as follows:
- Environmental: Indirect CO2 emissions Scope 3, sustainable products and services, biodiversity
- Social: Human rights due diligence, psychosocial risks in the workplace
- Governance: Board of Directors competencies, ESG criteria in the compensation system, corporate governance assessment (zRating)
The details with specific examples can be found in Inrate's Engagement Report 2025.
Exclusion criteria
TRANSPARENTA excludes companies and sectors with controversial business activities. Turnover thresholds are used to avoid controversial business practices and at the same time ensure risk-appropriate implementation.
Principle: Targeted abstinence from investments in companies and industries that violate ethical, ecological or social standards & interests.
Sustainability assessments are carried out using so-called ESG criteria by various recognized rating agencies (MSCI, Inrate etc.).
In the relevant stock market indices, there are significant companies that are active in several business areas. In order to implement the exclusions efficiently and in line with risk, maximum turnover thresholds are used for classification as controversial. The thresholds vary depending on the business sector and exceeding them will result in the exclusion of the title. In general, the following maximum turnover thresholds are applied. For individual collective investments used, there may also be more restrictive thresholds, but never higher.
- alcohol (10%)
- Gambling (10%)
- Tobacco (5% production/15% turnover)
- Controversial weapons such as ABC weapons, mines, cluster bombs, etc. (0%)
- Conventional weapons and components (10%)
- Civilian firearms (5% production/15% turnover)
- Nuclear energy (10%)
- Thermal coal energy (5%)
- Unconventional oil and gas production (5%)
TRANSPARENTA excludes investment instruments that are highly speculative or non-transparent a priori. They contradict our understanding of sustainability. These are hedge funds or direct investments in fossil and agricultural commodities (crude oil, natural gas, coal, grains, soft commodities, the livestock sector).
Integrating ESG ratings
When investing, TRANSPARENTA takes environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) aspects into account in order to minimize sustainability risks. The concept used systematically favors and overweight companies with high ESG ratings.
Principle: Responsible investments create long-term added value.
The term ESG stands for looking at companies in three dimensions:
- Environmental (Environment)
- Social (society)
- Governance (corporate governance)
For example, criteria such as efficient energy consumption, compliance with workers' rights or the independence and competence of the Board of Directors are assessed.
In the context of an index-oriented investment style, ESG integration aims to maximize the ESG rating value for the relevant investment categories — these are usually equities and bonds — given risk requirements (tracking error). This means that financial performance develops as much as with the base index, but that more capital is invested in companies with high ESG scores in the actual portfolio than in the base index (and no capital at all in those with the lowest ratings). This is also referred to as “positive screening.”
When it comes to foreign equities, TRANSPARENTA uses the MSCI Selection Index (formerly ESG Leaders) based on a so-called best-in-class approach. This gives preference to companies that achieve an above-average ESG rating compared to their industry competitors. The best 50% are selected for each sector. In addition, companies that are involved in controversial business practices are excluded (see also “Exclusion Criteria” section). A total of around 1100 stocks are invested worldwide, which achieves broad diversification.
Integration of climate aspects
The aim of taking climate aspects into account is to significantly improve financed greenhouse gas emissions compared to the comparative indices.
Principle: Negative effects of climate change on investment portfolio performance are reduced (e.g. transition risks, CO2 pricing).
For foreign equities, the chosen ESG Leaders approach alone is already leading to a significantly improved climate profile.
In addition to ESG ratings, CO2 criteria are also explicitly taken into account for index tracking for Swiss equities and partly for CHF bonds. This is to achieve an active reduction in CO2 e-intensity without increasing the active risk compared to the reference index (tracking error).
Over the entire portfolio, TRANSPARENTA achieved a significant reduction in financed CO₂ intensity of almost 40%.
Climate Alliance Switzerland, an alliance of over 160 civil society organizations, rates TRANSPARENTA's financial investments as “good practice” and a “much better” trend based on the new criteria 2022—2024 compared to the evaluation period 2017 to 2019.