Climate change

Bellevue recognizes that climate change, if left unchecked, will have negative effects on the environment, on society and on the world economy. We actively support the transition to a low-carbon and climate-resilient economy and are committed to making a positive contribution to climate change mitigation. Bellevue has integrated sustainability and climate-related aspects into the risk management processes that govern its business operations and assesses the actual and potential impacts of climate-related risks and opportunities on its business activities and financial planning. These risks and potential impacts are reported to the Board of Directors on an annual basis.

Since Bellevue does not operate in a carbon-intensive industry, the impact of climate change on its business activities is rather small. Climate change does, however, have a major impact on investment product regulations and transparency requirements, and Bellevue must meet these requirements in order to continue offering attractive products going forward. Please refer to the material topic of «Responsible investment» for further information.

The Bellevue has set the following goals with respect to climate change mitigation:

• 30% reduction in carbon emissions per FTE by 2030 (Baseline year: 2020 adjusted for COVID-19 effects on commuting/remote work/business travel)
• Reduction of carbon emissions from business travel and commuting
• Net zero by 2050 in compliance with applicable law

Business travel and commuting travel are the two main sources of our carbon emissions. The emissions data for 2019 adjusted for the impact of COVID-19 was used as the baseline for the carbon reduction goal. In the initial phase of the «post-COVID period», the annual reduction targets were exceeded by a significant margin. 2023 was the first year in which travel activity increased again. Nevertheless, Bellevue is still on target to achieve the targeted reduction per FTE by 2030. In order to raise employee awareness of carbon emissions, a training course taught by a climate expert was organized in 2023.

Bellevue has published a section with information regarding the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) in its ESG report. It provides an overview of Bellevue’s efforts to address climate change and how it is managing physical risks and the risks and opportunities arising from the transition to a low-carbon and climate-resilient economy.

Emissions in our own operations

Bellevue has produced a greenhouse gas inventory since 2021. This is calculated in accordance with the requirements of the ISO 14064-1 standard and the accounting principles of the GHG Protocol. All figures comprise all «Kyoto greenhouse gases» (CO₂, CH4, N₂O, HFCs, PFCs, SF₆, NF₃) and are reported as units of CO₂e (CO₂ equivalent). Bellevue does not burn biomass to produce electricity and/or heat.

The normalized GHG inventory data for 2020 is used as a reference to assess the effectiveness of the measures implemented within the scope of our climate policy and to track improvements in the company’s carbon balance. Due to the far-reaching impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 carbon balance was not chosen as the baseline carbon balance, instead the data from the commuting and business travel categories was normalized. Under commuting travel, the assumed share of teleworking was 0%. Under business air travel, it was assumed that the number of kilometers flown in the various travel classes is a linear function of air travel costs. The number of kilometers flow was extrapolated based on average air travel expenses for 2018 and 2019.

At Bellevue, the organizational boundaries are determined by operational control and the assets and activities subject to operational control are included within the system boundaries.

¹⁾ Baseline year: 2020 adjusted for COVID-19 effects (on commuting/remote work/business travel)
²⁾ Scope 1: Direct greenhouse gas emissions
³⁾ Scope 2: Indirect greenhouse gas emissions from externally sourced energy
⁴⁾ Scope 3: Energy supply (emissions arising from the use of energy not covered by Scope 1 or 2): Business travel (external vehicles), commuting, IT equipment, paper, print jobs, waste, water

Bellevue does not emit significant amounts of ozone-depleting substances, nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulfur oxides (SOx) or any other air pollutants.

As it is active in the financial sector, its Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions are rather low. Areas of focus are heating, electricity and business travel with company cars. Most of its CO₂ emissions relate to Scope 3 emissions and are mainly attributed to business travel and commuting. In 2020 and 2021, action to prevent the spread of the coronavirus led to a sharp reduction in business air travel (air travel) and commuting travel. From 2022 on, CO₂ emissions in these two areas has increased significantly, but are still below pre-pandemic levels.

Bellevue has been working with Swiss Climate since 2020 to calculate its CO₂ emissions and develop measures to reduce them. Up to and including 2023, Bellevue has been certified with the highest climate label from Swiss Climate (a pioneer with its exemplary, holistic CO₂ management at all levels). By purchasing CO₂ emission certificates equivalent to the amount of greenhouse gas emissions emitted each year, we support projects that save the same amount of emissions. In 2024, we opted for a project in Bulgaria focussing on ‘renewable energy from sawdust’. The project illustrates a prime example of a regenerative system: the production of raw material for paper manufacturing produces sawdust. This is reused as biomass for the production of water vapour. The steam in turn is the energy source for the production of raw material. This regenerative system can therefore replace fossil fuels as a source of heat.

Since the first publication of its greenhouse gas inventory, Bellevue has striven to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions. Currently available data does not allow it to measure the direct impact of its efforts. These efforts can only be analyzed on an aggregate basis per category. The reductions achieved in the individual categories compared to the baseline year can be summarized as follows:

• Business travel
  Total distance traveled by air has been reduced by 7% (or 41 775 km). This led to a decline in emissions of 30 t CO₂. Motor vehicle travel increased by 28% (or 11 978 km) over the same period. This led to an increase in emissions of 4 t CO₂e. Consequently the share of sustainable business travel has increased from 3% to 11%.
• Commuting travel
  Commuting emissions were reduced by 63% (or 117 t CO₂e) due to the widespread use of teleworking arrangements. The share of sustainable commuting travel was increased from 49% to 70%, which is well above the Swiss average.
• Electricity
  Absolute electricity consumption was reduced by 21%, which led to a corresponding reduction in emissions. At the same time, a significant proportion of energy consumption has been sourced from renewable sources since 2021. In the 2024 financial year, this share will be 95%.

Mobility

All of our offices are easily accessible by public transit. Employees are requested to use public transit to commute to work. We actively encourage this by offering financial incentives. Employees must pay to use a parking space at company locations. Showers and changing rooms are available at company headquarters, which makes commuting to work by bicycle an attractive alternative. With the relocation of company headquarters from Küsnacht to Zurich City in 2025, access to public transportation will become even more attractive. We expect this will lead to a significant reduction in commuting emissions.

International contacts are important given our global investment strategies and distribution activities with employees at different locations. All locations have video conferencing infrastructure. Most of the meetings are through telephone and video conferencing instead of physical meetings to limit travel. Where possible and appropriate, we substitute air travel with public transportation such as train travel and coordinate joint site visits.

The Group Executive Board is regularly informed about the travel activities of the employees.

Key climate-relevant memberships

Bellevue is a member of various organizations and a signatory of various investor initiatives as part of its active engagement to promote sustainability for the benefit of the planet. The following memberships and collaborations are climate-relevant:

• Signatory of the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (UN PRI) (08-2019)
• Member of Swiss Sustainable Finance (11-2022)
• Certification by Swiss Climate (from December 2021)