The Swiss Economy and Sustainable Development
Institutional Communication Service
22 January 2024
What lessons can Switzerland learn from the US economy's retreat from the ESG (environmental, social and governance) goals? Professor François Degeorge of USI Faculty of Economics poses this question in an editorial published in Le Temps.
In the article "Des leçons pour la Suisse du retour de bâton anti-ESG aux Etats-Unis", Professor François Degeorge observes how US corporations have reversed their decision. After initially supporting the ESG also in response to political inertia in tackling the climate crisis, they are now retreating as public opinion finds it hard to accept that large corporations are advancing moral demands that are perceived as illegitimate or inauthentic.
According to Professor Degeorge, the Swiss economy can learn from this failure by basing its commitment to ESG not on moral arguments but on facts, for example, by leveraging the risks and opportunities represented by the ecological transition. The Swiss economy can rely on the high-level research in the field of sustainable finance and climate change that is being carried out in Switzerland.
