Learn more about our SRI activities.
Teaming up for sustainable development
| In 2005, Pictet Asset Management and the Ethos Foundation formed a partnership to manage socially responsible investment for institutional investors. The Ethos Foundation was created in 1997 by two Geneva pension funds and currently encompasses 75 member institutions. Its aim is to encourage the use of sustainable development principles and good corporate governance in the investment activities of its members. |
 Pictet Asset Management and the Ethos Foundation jointly developed an investment process which is applied to a range of mutual and institutional funds as well as segregated mandates. The investment process includes non-financial assessment of the companies, analysis of the environmental and social impact of their activities, and in-depth financial analysis.In managing our business and setting our long-term objectives, we carefully select partner organisations and business principles that are consistent with the sustainable objectives we have set for ourselves. Pictet Asset Management has signed the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) that are based on the philosophy of the UN Global Compact Initiative. |
| |
|
Pictet has joined the Eurosif organisation of institutional investors, investment managers and research institutes, whose mission is to address sustainability through financial markets. We also adhere to the voluntary transparency guidelines for SRI retail products issued by the same organisation. We have recently entered into a partnership with Global Footprint Network, a non-governmental organisation that has pioneered an easy-to-use metric of sustainable development called Ecological Footprint, endorsed by government bodies and environmental organisations such as the WWF. We intend to incorporate their data into our planned country-level research. Pictet is the first bank worldwide to join the Global Footprint Network. |
| |
|
Pictet is also a signatory to the Carbon Disclosure Project and is sponsoring and promoting this important initiative in Switzerland, in conjunction with Ethos, the Swiss foundation with whom Pictet works closely in developing and managing sustainable investment portfolios. Initiatives and support As a well-resourced, financially secure business, Pictet recognizes it has a responsibility to contribute to the solution of environmental and social issues. Every year, Pictet supports sustainability initiatives at both the international and local level. |
| |
 In 2008, the International Polar Year, Pictet Bank is proud to support the Ice Core project led by Thomas Stocker, Professor at the Institute of Climate and Environmental Physics of the University of Bern, Switzerland. The "Ice Core" project consists in drilling deep ice cores in Antarctica in order to reconstruct the history of the earth's climate over a period of 800,000 years. The findings reveal for the first time a close correlation between climate change and greenhouse gases over the past 650,000 years. This financial support will enable Professor Stocker to pursue his studies for another year so he can extend his fundamental research into our planet for the total 800,000-year period. |
| |
 In 2006 Pictet was the key sponsor of a Swiss-led expedition to research and analyse environmental degradation in the Yangtze River, which included a search for the critically endangered Yangtze River white dolphin. This exotic creature, known as the baiji to the Chinese, has been driven to near, if not actual, extinction, by severe pollution and official indifference to its plight.In Middle-East, Pictet has funded a water project which is restoring Jordan's ancient wells employing local labour to help supply the population with clean drinking water. In Switzerland, Pictet has raised funds to support malaria prevention, while the Bank is an active sponsor of artistic, musical and social resources in the Geneva area. Other recent local initiatives also include sponsorship of the Association for the Preservation of Lake Geneva (ASL) with a view to protect the lake as part of the regional community's heritage for future generations. |
