CSP Newsletter: Spring 2024

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An image of early-spring flowers in the mountains. Text reads: “Spring 2024”

Dear friends,

As spring arrives in the Northern Hemisphere, we’re feeling refreshed and ready to keep catalyzing positive change in 2024.

There’s a lot to look forward to, from hitting the ground running with the brand-new Initiative in Sustainable Finance (ISF) at the University of Zurich, to launching an exciting next-level training offering and hosting an exclusive family office-focused learning program in mid May and launching an exciting next-level training offering on systems change at the end of the same month. Have a look and see if one of these offerings is the right fit for you, or others you know.

As was mentioned at the launch of the ISF last week, this is a very exciting and pivotal time to be involved in sustainable finance, and we’re happy to be among those driving it forward.

Towards impact,

Dr. Falko Paetzold, Initiator & Managing Director, CSP
Image of a person’s hand holding up a compass in a forest

Implement impact in your family office

Specifically catered to the needs and challenges of principals and single-family office leadership, our Learning from Leading Impact Family Offices training showcases how various impact family offices have operationalized impact investment, to equip family offices for their next move. The course is a unique opportunity to look behind the curtain at how other family offices are driving positive change. The course will be held May 15–17th, 2024 at the University of Zurich as a collaboration between CSP and leading impact-focused single family office VP Capital, and is open exclusively to wealth holders with family offices and senior single family office staff.

Learn more.

Photos from the ISF Launch event: a panel discussion and two female speakers.

Say hello to the Initiative in Sustainable Finance

On March 5th, the “who’s who” of the Swiss sustainable finance scene and a number of international leaders joined us in Zurich for a very special event: the launch of the Initiative in Sustainable Finance (ISF) of the Department of Finance at the University of Zurich! The Initiative will highlight the world-class sustainable finance research being done at the University of Zurich’s Department of Finance and communicate those insights to a wider audience. CSP will contribute to the private wealth aspect of the Initiative, with Falko leading this theme. Expect more research insights coming from ISF soon!

An image of a bookshelf, an AI tool website, and our team in a painting atelier
More ‘Investor’s Guides’, new research on AI and climate, and welcoming our newest team member Menelaos.

Coming Soon: More Investor’s Guides!

Given the widespread interest in our Investor’s Guide to Impact, we’ll be publishing a series of ‘Investor’s Guides’ that equip wealth holders (and their advisors) with the most pertinent science-based knowledge on key impact investing themes. Expect the first one — The Investor’s Guide to B Corporations — later this spring: we’ll launch it at the Family Office training course in May!

New Paper on AI and Climate Science

UZH’s Markus Leippold has co-authored a new paper now published in Nature Communications Earth and Environment titled Grounding conversational AI in climate science. In it, their team addresses key challenges involved in using conversational AI in critical domains like climate change and shares a tool they developed in response: www.chatclimate.ai.

Two professional women smiling while having a conversation. Text reads: Sustainable Investing Masterclass.

Master the basics of Sustainable Finance

The Sustainable Investing Masterclass in an introductory-level training program that’s open to professionals from across sectors, as well as retail bank clients, who want to gain insight into the field of sustainable finance. Whether you’re a sustainable expert, a traditional professional, or simply an interested citizen, this course will provide you with up-to-date and easy-to-understand frameworks that you can start applying right away. The next Masterclass will take place on May 29th, 2024 and takes place at the University of Zurich.

Learn more.

Team Updates

Welcome Menelaos

Meet the latest addition to our CSP Team: Menelaos Petrovas, our new Senior Marketing Manager. He is an experienced marketing professional with a background in a variety of sectors, including banking and fintech. Menelaos will manage the marketing activities and support the growth of the CSP and the training programs. We’re happy to have him!

Photo of a bridge over a coastline. Text reads: “Ready to catalyze systemic change?”

Level up! From incremental impact to influencing systems

Designed for wealth holders who want to deepen their impact investing knowledge, the new ACCELERATE program is a series of intensive action-oriented courses that focus on systemic investing and a holistic approach to impact creation.

Hosted in partnership with TWIST, TransCap Initiative, Meridian Institute, and the MIT Sloan Sustainability Initiative, this training will convene pioneers at the nexus of systems transformation and impact investing and provide critical skills to tackle global challenges.

The first training of the series, Investing for Systems Change, will be held in Oslo, Norway on May 26–28th, 2024.

Learn more.

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Center for Sustainable Finance and Private Wealth
Center for Sustainable Finance and Private Wealth

Written by Center for Sustainable Finance and Private Wealth

CSP is a research center at UZH. We conduct research and train wealth owners & investment professionals in order to move capital towards sustainable growth.