Written by John Reville
BERN (Reuters) – Climate change activists picketed the Swiss National Bank’s general meeting on Friday to protest the central bank’s investments in companies they say are destroying the environment and engaging in hydraulic fracturing.
The demonstrations followed a ruling this month by the European Court of Human Rights that the city of Bern was not doing enough to protect its citizens from rising temperatures. Protests also took place at Wednesday’s UBS general meeting.
Switzerland recorded its two hottest years on record in 2022 and 2023, and snow cover in the Alps is receding.
About 50 activists attended the meeting in Bern, demanding that the Swiss central bank sell its holdings in fossil fuel and fracking companies or use them to change their behavior.
Demonstrators held placards reading “Stop fracking investment, end fossil finance” and “No financial stability without climate stability” outside the normally quiet event, which caused chaos. Security has been strengthened to prevent this.
“We want climate- and environmentally-friendly financial and investment policies from the Swiss central bank,” said Asti Roesl, campaign director at the Swiss Climate Alliance. “SNB can play a strong role because of its large investment scale.”
The SNB holds stakes in companies including oil majors Chevron, Shell and ExxonMobil as part of its CHF700 billion foreign currency investment.
According to the company’s sustainability report, its investments were associated with 12 million tonnes of carbon emissions last year.
SNB declined to comment on its protests or investment strategy ahead of the shareholders’ meeting, but has previously ruled out using its shares to influence environmental policy.
“The SNB says that addressing climate change should be a matter for political institutions, but this is an emergency,” Roesl said.
(Reporting by John Revill; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
