In 2025, as in previous years, dialogue with companies that commit serious and systematic violations of the normative basis was a central element of PUBLICA’s responsible investment strategy. That dialogue is conducted by the Swiss Association for Responsible Investments (SVVK-ASIR) on behalf of its members, working with external partners. PUBLICA is a founding member of SVVK-ASIR, which celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2025.
PUBLICA exercises voting rights systematically. This was confirmed by rezonanz, a Swiss firm that specialises in evaluating institutional investors’ use of their voting rights, which placed PUBLICA 44th out of 404 in its investor ranking. Where the dialogue failed to progress, PUBLICA took escalating action and opposed the election of individual board members. Dialogue and the exercise of voting rights underpin PUBLICA’s rights as a shareholder. Making active use of those rights requires persistence and staying power in order to achieve tangible improvements. PUBLICA will maintain this approach.
Over the last four years, PUBLICA has cut the CO2 emissions (Scope 1) of its Swiss real estate. This was the result of
- ongoing operational improvements to the existing portfolio properties,
- replacement of fossil-fuel heating systems with renewable energy and
- project developments and major cyclical renovations in accordance with recognised SNBS and Minergie standards.
The CO2 intensity of the foreign real estate funds was also reduced.
In partnership with three other, like-minded Swiss pension funds and the Dutch pension fund asset manager APG, PUBLICA makes cost-efficient and transparent direct investments in high-quality infrastructure facilities. The first two transactions took place in 2025, with investments in renewable energy in North America and power transmission in Europe.
Working closely with the external asset managers and Net Purpose over the last two years, PUBLICA has classified its private infrastructure investments in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. It also once again calculated the contributions made to the Goals by the companies in its equity and corporate bond portfolio. The limited availability and quality of data, together with the complexity of measurement, make it difficult to assess the results. PUBLICA will review its measurement approach over the coming years.