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Credit Suisse GRI Content Index 2019

GRI Content Index 2019

Credit Suisse used the GRI Standards for sustainability reporting (core option) in the development of its corporate responsibility reporting. The GRI content index refers to information in the Corporate Responsibility Report 2019 (CRR), the Annual Report 2019 (AR) and the Credit Suisse website ( ). Indicators that have been externally verified by the certification company SGS are marked with an asterisk.

Legend

AR

Annual Report

CRR

Corporate Responsibility Report

credit-suisse.com

*

Indicator externally verified by SGS

Fully reported

Partially reported



Not reported (omission)

GENERAL DISCLOSURES

GRI 102

SRS

Disclosure

Source

Scope

Organizational profile

102-1

Name of the organization

AR 2019: Front cover

Our Company (Internet)

102-2

Activities, brands, products, and services

Credit Suisse at a glance:

AR 2019: p. 12

Divisions:

AR 2019: pp. 18–25

Products and services:

AR 2019: pp. 15–17

Our Businesses (Internet)

102-3

Location of headquarters

Corporate Governance:

AR 2019: p. 178

Main offices:

AR 2019: A-12

102-4

Location of operations

Organizational structure:

AR 2019: p. 15

Divisions:

AR 2019: pp. 18–25

Main offices:

AR 2019: A-12

Our Company (Internet)

102-5

Ownership and legal form

Corporate Governance:

AR 2019: p. 178

Articles of Association (PDF)

102-6

Markets

served

See GRI Indicators 102-2 and 102-4

For additional details, please refer to:

Divisions:

AR 2019: pp. 18–25

102-7

Scale of the organization

Results summary:

AR 2019: p. 58

Divisions:

AR 2019: pp. 18–25

Organizational structure:

AR 2019: p. 15

Number of employees:

AR 2019: p. 62

Our Company (Internet)

1 102-8*

Information on employees and other workers

As of the end of 2019, Credit Suisse had 47,860 employees (full-time equivalents; whereof around 16,140 in Switzerland and 31,720 in all other regions). In 2019, 10.3% (2018=10.5%) of Credit Suisse employees worked part-time (18.9% of all female employees and 4.7% of all male employees).

Credit Suisse does not report on employment types, due to bank-specific regulatory limitations and internal guidelines.

Employee relations:

AR 2019: p. 181

Employee facts and figures:

CRR 2019: p. 46

Responsibility as an employer:

Employer (Internet)

CRR 2019: pp. 44-50

102-9

Supply chain

Supplier Code of Conduct and Third Party Risk Management (TPRM):

An integral part of the economy and society:

CRR 2019: pp. 30-31

Suppliers (Internet)

Supplier Code of Conduct (PDF)

CRR 2019: p. 22

102-10

Significant changes to the organization and its supply chain

Credit Suisse strategy:

AR 2019: pp. 13–15

Evolution of legal entity structure:

AR 2019: p. 15

Trust and expertise:

CRR 2019: pp. 12–16

102-11*

Precautionary Principle or approach

Our commitment to sustainability and to the consideration of environmental and social issues in our business activities is embedded in the Code of Conduct. In addition, our Statement on Sustainability defines the objectives and principles underpinning our approach with regard to environmental and social issues in our business activities. It refers to international agreements that Credit Suisse has voluntarily pledged to uphold, such as the UN Global Compact with its Ten Principles in the areas of human rights, labor standards, environmental protection and anti-corruption efforts. The responsibilities and processes for implementing sustainability issues within the bank are defined within our internal Sustainability Management Policy.

Credit Suisse strives to make more efficient use of natural resources and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. We focus our efforts on energy management because energy consumption is among the areas in which our operations have the greatest direct impact on the environment. In order to reduce environmental impacts and lower costs, we continuously implement a variety of measures through our Environmental Management System (EMS), which has been implemented in accordance with the ISO 14001:2015 standard. In 2019, we successfully completed an EMS surveillance audit carried out by SGS, without any Corrective Action Requests (CARs). We also involve external service providers and suppliers in our continuous efforts to improve our environmental management measures where appropriate. Furthermore, Credit Suisse has been greenhouse gas neutral globally since 2010.

In our banking businesses, environmental and social aspects are considered when managing transaction-related risks. To assess environmental and social risks, our internal specialist unit, Sustainability Affairs, evaluates whether the client’s activities are consistent with the relevant industry standards and whether the potential transaction is compatible with Credit Suisse’s policies and guidelines for sensitive sectors. Based on the outcome of this analysis, Sustainability Affairs submits its assessment to the responsible business unit and/or enters it into the Reputational Risk Review system for evaluation by a Reputational Risk Approver, who is a senior manager independent from the area of business in question, or by the respective Reputational Risk Committee. They have the authority to approve, reject or impose conditions on our participation in a transaction or the establishment of a client relationship. In cases of particularly complex or cross-divisional transactions, the decision may be referred to the Position & Client Risk (PCR) cycle of the Capital Allocation & Risk Management Committee (CARMC), which assumed the responsibilities of the former Reputational Risk Sustainability Committee (RRSC) beginning in 2020. Alternatively, it may be escalated to the Global Reputational Risk function. The PCR cycle of CARMC, chaired by the Group’s Chief Risk Officer, is the most senior governing body responsible for the oversight and active discussion of reputational risks and sustainability issues (including climate change). The Risk Committee and Audit Committee jointly assist the Board in fulfilling its reputational risk oversight responsibilities by reviewing and approving the Group’s risk appetite framework as well as assessing the adequacy of the management of reputational risks.

Certain industries are particularly sensitive from a social or environmental perspective. To assess potential transactions with clients in these industries, we have defined specific policies and guidelines that are globally applicable, taking account of standards developed by international organizations such as the UN and the World Bank.

Sustainability Commitments (Internet)

Responsibility for the environment:

CRR 2019: pp. 54–60

Environmental Management (Internet)

Greenhouse Gas Neutrality (Internet)

Risk management and sustainability:

CRR 2019: pp. 17-22

Risk Management and Sustainability (Internet)

102-12*

External initiatives

Credit Suisse is a signatory to several international agreements, and is committed to integrating their standards into its corporate policy. These include, among others: the UN Global Compact, the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) and the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). Furthermore, Credit Suisse is a signatory to the UN Principles for Responsible Investments (PRI) and the UN Principles for Responsible Banking (PRB).

In the context of sustainability risk management, Credit Suisse has applied the Equator Principles (EP) since 2003. This framework for the management of environmental and social risks is based on standards defined by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and is applied by around 100 financial institutions for specific types of finance for industrial and infrastructure projects. The Equator Principles were updated in 2019, following an EP Association process involving extensive dialogue with a wide variety of stakeholders – including the EP Financial Institutions (EPFIs), EPFI clients, industry bodies and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). As a result, the Equator Principles’ scope of application has been expanded to capture more project-related transactions. Amendments and new commitments have also been made with regard to human rights, climate change, indigenous peoples and biodiversity.

2 Credit Suisse played an active role in the update process and was involved in the management of the Equator Principles Association.

Credit Suisse publicly expressed its support for the recommendations of the Financial Stability Board’s Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). Within the regulatory framework established by the Paris Agreement, we expect our TCFD adoption efforts to provide us with further guidance for the transition toward a world that is progressively less dependent on fossil fuels. Credit Suisse continued its TCFD implementation efforts in 2019, following the four TCFD categories of Governance, Strategy, Risk Management, and Metrics and Targets.

Credit Suisse contributes to the realization of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in various ways, including in our role as a financial intermediary and employer. Further examples of how we aim to support the realization of the SDGs include our sustainable, impact and SDG-oriented thematic investment products and services as well as our global initiatives in education and financial inclusion. At the same time, our focus on sustainability risk management can help us to reduce potential negative impacts that certain business activities might have on the realization of the SDGs.

Implementation of the Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact:

Sustainability networks and initiatives:

CRR 2019: p. 64

Agreements and Memberships (Internet)

CRR 2019: p.62

Implementing the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures:

Our contribution to the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals:

CRR 2019: p. 59

Credit Suisse and the SDGs (Internet)

CRR 2019: p. 21

102-13*

Membership of associations

Credit Suisse considers it important to engage in discussions with various stakeholders – from clients, employees and investors to policymakers, legislators, regulators and representatives of the business community and society – in order to understand the issues that are important to them and to help find constructive solutions to current challenges. This exchange of views and ideas has grown increasingly important in recent years in view of international developments and discussions surrounding the role of the finance industry in the global economy. Reflecting our commitment to dialogue, we are a member of a number of industry associations, umbrella organizations and think-tanks where we discuss topics such as financial market regulation and sustainable finance policy, among other things.

In addition, Credit Suisse actively participates in a number of sustainability networks and initiatives worldwide. These include, among others: the UNEP FI and the UN Global Compact.

Maintaining a constructive dialogue:

CRR 2019: p. 31

Sustainability networks and initiatives:

Our Network (Internet)

CRR 2019: p. 64

Strategy

102-14

Statement from senior decisionmaker

Foreword:

CRR 2019: pp. 4–5

102-15

Key impacts, risks, and opportunities

In terms of Corporate Responsibility, our main responsibility is to ensure that we run our company successfully on a long-term basis for the benefit of our clients, shareholders, employees and society as a whole. We believe competence, client focus, compliance, diligence and responsible conduct are key to the success of our business. This includes taking account of social and environmental aspects when conducting our activities.

Our understanding of Corporate Responsibility:

Approach & Reporting (Internet)

CRR 2019: pp. 6–9

Ethics and integrity

102-16*

Values, principles, standards, and norms of behavior

Recognizing the critical role of employees in helping to preserve financial integrity, we aim for the highest standards of personal accountability and ethical conduct from each member of our workforce. Credit Suisse employees at all levels of the organization, as well as the members of the Board of Directors, are obligated to adhere to our Code of Conduct.

Since the launch of our six Conduct and Ethics (C&E) Standards in 2017, Credit Suisse has focused on confirming that the C&E Standards are firmly embedded in our processes throughout the bank. The six C&E Standards – Client Focus, Meritocracy, Stakeholder Management, Accountability, Partner and Transparency – set the values and conduct expectations for employees. C&E is a core part of everything we do – from recruitment to performance management and our disciplinary process. Through comprehensive, top-down, consistent communications, we have sought to create awareness across the bank regarding C&E.

Managing sustainability and reputational issues has become increasingly important, as many companies face growing economic, environmental and societal challenges. Our Statement on Sustainability defines the objectives and principles underpinning our approach to environmental and social issues in our business activities. It refers to international agreements that Credit Suisse has voluntarily pledged to uphold, such as the UN Global Compact with its Ten Principles in the areas of human rights, labor standards, environmental protection and anti-corruption efforts (see indicators 102-12 and 102-13). In addition to these existing commitments, we introduced a Group-wide Climate Risk Strategy program in 2019.

Code of Conduct and Conduct and Ethics Standards:

Code of Conduct (Internet)

Statement on Sustainability (Internet)

Sustainability Commitments (Internet)

CRR 2019: pp. 15-16

Governance

102-18

Governance structure

Board of Directors/Board Committees:

AR 2019: pp. 188–209

Corporate Governance:

AR 2019: p. 178

102-20*

Appointed body accountable for

Based on Credit Suisse’s Statement on Sustainability, the CEO is the most senior manager having decision-making authority on sustainability matters and is supported in this by the Position & Client Risk (PCR) cycle of the Capital

3 economic, environmental and social topics

Allocation & Risk Management Committee (CARMC), which assumed the responsibilities of the former Reputational Risk Sustainability Committee (RRSC) beginning in 2020. The PCR cycle of CARMC, chaired by the Group’s Chief Risk Officer, is the most senior governing body responsible for the oversight and active discussion of reputational risks and sustainability issues (including climate change). The Risk Committee and Audit Committee jointly assist the Board in fulfilling its reputational risk oversight responsibilities by reviewing and approving the Group’s risk appetite framework as well as assessing the adequacy of the management of reputational risks.

Risk management and sustainability:

CRR 2019: pp. 17-22

Risk Management and Sustainability (Internet)

Statement on Sustainability (Internet)

102-29*

Identifying and

managing

economic,

environmental and

social impacts

Credit Suisse employees at all levels of the organization, as well as the members of the Board of Directors, are

obligated to adhere to our Code of Conduct. To ensure we are continuously informed of the latest regulations and

industry standards, our employees are required to participate in an annual targeted and tailored training curriculum. It

includes, but is not limited to, developments in the finance industry and internal best practices for continued compliant

growth.

The CEO is the most senior manager having decision-making authority on sustainability matters and is supported in

this by the PCR cycle of the CARMC, which assumed the responsibilities of the former RRSC beginning in 2020. The

PCR cycle of CARMC, chaired by the Group’s Chief Risk Officer, is the most senior governing body responsible for the

oversight and active discussion of reputational risks and sustainability issues (including climate change). The Risk

Committee and Audit Committee jointly assist the Board in fulfilling its reputational risk oversight responsibilities by

reviewing and approving the Group’s risk appetite framework as well as assessing the adequacy of the management of

reputational risks.

In line with the GRI Standards, Credit Suisse regularly conducts a materiality assessment in order to better understand

the views and interests of our stakeholders. We believe doing so will help us to identify new trends, evolve our strategy

accordingly, as well as tailor our reporting to align it with the interests and needs of our business and our stakeholders.

Code of Conduct (Internet)

Risk management and sustainability:

CRR 2019: pp. 17-22

Credit Suisse materiality assessment:

CRR 2019: pp.

7-8

Statement on Sustainability (Internet)

102-31*

Review of economic, environmental and social topics

During 2019, the Reputational Risk Sustainability Committee met quarterly to monitor, among other things, compliance with internal sustainability policies and guidelines, as well as international sustainability commitments to which the bank has voluntarily signed up. In 2020, the PCR cycle of the CARMC assumed the responsibilities of the former RRSC. According to the Terms of Reference of the PCR cylce of CARMC, sustainability updates will be provided every quarter.

Risk Management and Sustainability (Internet)

Sustainability Commitments (Internet)

Stakeholder engagement

102-40

List of stakeholder groups

Our business works on the basis of trust: Our long-term success depends to a significant extent on our ability to inspire confidence in our stakeholders. In the current challenging regulatory environment and in view of the developments in the area of financial market policy, it is essential that we take steps to safeguard and maintain trust in our company. We therefore regularly engage in dialogue with clients, shareholders, investors and employees as well as regulators and policymakers, NGOs and other stakeholders. This dialogue – combined with the insights we gain through our participation in initiatives, industry associations and forums, as well as the findings of surveys strengthens our understanding of the different, and sometimes conflicting, perspectives of our stakeholders. This helps us to identify their interests and expectations at an early stage, to offer our own perspective and to contribute to the development of solutions in response to current challenges wherever possible. At the same time, this exchange allows us to further develop our understanding of our corporate responsibilities. Further information about our engagement with stakeholders, as well as our range of publications that are designed to contribute to the public debate, are available online:

Engaging with stakeholders:

CRR 2019: p. 9

Engaging with our Stakeholders (Internet)

102-41

Collective bargaining agreements

Engaging with stakeholders:

CRR 2019: p. 9

Attractive working environment and flexible working:

Employee Representation (Internet)

CRR 2019: pp. 48-49

102-42

Identifying and selecting stakeholders

Credit Suisse has identified several key stakeholder groups within the categories of market, society, workplace and environment. Market stakeholder groups consist of clients, shareholders, investors and analysts. Workplace stakeholders consist of employees, trade unions and suppliers. With respect to its role in society, Credit Suisse has identified policymakers, regulators and media as stakeholder groups. Finally, with respect to the environment, stakeholders consist of NGOs and intergovernmental organizations and local communities. For each identified stakeholder group, various communication channels are used in an effort to engage in an open dialogue.

Further details are outlined in the CRR 2019 and on our website. Please refer to:

Engaging with stakeholders:

CRR 2019: p. 9

Engaging with our Stakeholders (Internet)

102-43

Approach to stakeholder engagement

We therefore regularly engage in dialogue with clients, shareholders, investors and employees as well as regulators and policymakers, NGOs and other stakeholders. This dialogue – combined with the insights we gain through our participation in initiatives, industry associations and forums, as well as the findings of surveys – strengthens our understanding of the different, and sometimes conflicting, perspectives of our stakeholders. This helps us to identify their interests and expectations at an early stage, to offer our own perspective and to contribute to the development of solutions in response to current challenges wherever possible. At the same time, this exchange allows us to further develop our understanding of our corporate responsibilities.

4 Our corporate responsibility reporting activities focus on topics that are relevant to our business and our stakeholders. We regularly undertake a materiality assessment in order to identify critical economic, environmental and social issues that may either have a significant impact on the company’s business performance or substantively influence the assessments and decisions of our stakeholders. We believe that this helps us recognize new trends and evolve our strategy accordingly as well as align our reporting with the interests and needs of our business and our stakeholders.

The materiality assessment is based on our ongoing dialogue with stakeholders across all parts of our organization. We strive to ensure that the list of material issues identified in the past remains relevant and that important new topics are addressed. In 2019, we once again approached a large number and broad range of external and internal stakeholders in all regions where we operate. We reached out to these stakeholders and asked for their perspective through a structured survey, comprising both quantitative and qualitative elements. The results of this survey were subsequently combined with a dedicated media review and information from our monitoring tools. We also considered the views of internal experts who participate in an ongoing dialogue with relevant stakeholder groups. As part of the assessment, we analyzed the expected future importance of the material issues for our stakeholders to help us anticipate emerging business issues. Throughout this process, we took into account the perspectives of clients, investors and analysts, policymakers, NGOs, employees and other stakeholders. The 2019 materiality assessment is the result of this analysis and reflects average values of perceived importance.

Credit Suisse materiality assessment:

Materiality Assessment (Internet)

CRR 2019: pp. 7-8

Engaging with stakeholders:

CRR 2019: p. 9

Engaging with our Stakeholders (Internet)

Our Network (Internet)

102-44

Key topics and concerns raised

Examples of Credit Suisse’s stakeholder dialogue and engagement activities can be found in our CRR and online at:

Credit Suisse materiality assessment:

Materiality Assessment (Internet)

CRR 2019: pp. 7-8

Engaging with stakeholders:

CRR 2019: p. 9

Engaging with our Stakeholders (Internet)

Reporting practices

102-45

Entities included in the consolidated financial statements

Summary of significant accounting policies:

AR 2019: pp. 268-276

102-46

Defining report content and topic Boundaries

The 2019 Corporate Responsibility Report (CRR) covers activities of Credit Suisse globally. In line with the GRI Standards, we again conducted a materiality assessment in 2019 in order to better understand the views and interests of our stakeholders, identify key issues and report on them transparently. The CRR focuses on issues classified as particularly important in the context of the materiality assessment.

Credit Suisse’s 2019 reporting documents on corporate responsibility reflect the GRI Standards for sustainability reporting (core option). As in previous years, selected indicators of our GRI-based disclosure on corporate responsibility have been externally assessed and independently assured by SGS. For additional details please refer to:

Credit Suisse materiality assessment:

Materiality Assessment (Internet)

CRR 2019: pp. 7-8

Reporting on Corporate Responsibility:

CRR 2019: pp. 61–64

External Assurance: SGS Assurance Statement for 2019 Reporting (PDF)

102-47

List of material topics

Credit Suisse materiality assessment:

Materiality Assessment (Internet)

CRR 2019: pp. 7-8

102-48

Restatements of information

None

102-49

Changes in reporting

The materiality assessment is based on our ongoing dialogue with stakeholders across all parts of our organization. We strive to ensure that the list of material issues identified in the past remains relevant and that important new topics are addressed. In 2019, we once again approached a large number and broad range of external and internal stakeholders in all regions where we operate. We reached out to these stakeholders and asked for their perspective through a structured survey, comprising both quantitative and qualitative elements. The results of this survey were subsequently combined with a dedicated media review and information from our monitoring tools. We also considered the views of internal experts who participate in an ongoing dialogue with relevant stakeholder groups. As part of the assessment, we analyzed the expected future importance of the material issues for our stakeholders to help us anticipate emerging business issues. Throughout this process, we took into account the perspectives of clients, investors and analysts, policymakers, NGOs, employees and other stakeholders. The 2019 materiality assessment is the result of this analysis and reflects average values of perceived importance.

Credit Suisse materiality assessment:

Materiality Assessment (Internet)

CRR 2019: pp. 7-8

Reporting on Corporate Responsibility:

CRR 2019: pp. 61–64

102-50

Reporting period

The 2019 Corporate Responsibility Report was published in March 2020 and covers the reporting year 2019:

CRR 2019: Front cover

Scope of the report:

CRR 2019: p. 61

102-51

Date of most recent previous report

The 2018 Corporate Responsibility Report was published in March 2019 and covers the 2018 reporting year.

CRR 2018

102-52

Reporting cycle

Credit Suisse publishes its Corporate Responsibility Report annually, along with the Annual Report. Since 2018, Credit Suisse also annually publishes the publication Corporate Responsibility – At a Glance, a concise booklet that provides

5 an overview of the most important processes and activities that reflect our approach to corporate responsibility in banking, in society, as an employer and for the environment.

Annual Reporting (Internet)

102-53

Contact point for questions regarding the report

We regard our reporting on corporate responsibility as an important basis for our dialogue with stakeholders and welcome any feedback about our activities:

responsibility.corporate@credit-suisse.com

102-54

Claims of reporting in accordance with the GRI Standards

GRI Sustainability Reporting Standards:

GRI Content Index (Internet)

CRR 2019: p. 61

102-55

GRI content index

GRI Sustainability Reporting Standards:

GRI Content Index (Internet)

CRR 2019: p. 61

External Assurance: SGS Assurance Statement for 2019 Reporting (PDF)

102-56

External assurance

Selected indicators of our GRI-based disclosure on corporate responsibility 2019 are externally assessed and independently assured by SGS (see indicators marked with an asterisk).

In addition, Credit Suisse’s Environmental Management System is certified by SGS according to ISO 14001.

External Assurance: SGS Assurance Statement for 2019 Reporting (PDF)

TOPIC-SPECIFIC STANDARDS

GRI 200: ECONOMIC

SRS

Disclosure

Source

Scope

GRI 201: Economic performance

GRI 103: Management approach for economic performance

103-1

103-2

103-3

Explanation of the

material topic and

its Boundary

The management

approach and its

components

Evaluation of the

management

approach

We strive to conduct our business responsibly and professionally – offering high-quality financial solutions and expert

advice to our clients around the globe. We are also committed to operating a rigorous compliance and control culture

to inspire trust in our bank.

Message from the Chairman:

AR 2019: pp. 4–7

Interview with the Chairman and the Chief Executive Officer:

AR 2019: pp. 8–10

Credit Suisse strategy:

AR 2019: pp. 13–15

Results summary:

AR 2019: p. 58

Foreword:

CRR 2019: pp. 4–5

Responsibility in banking:

CRR 2019: pp. 12–27

Our role in the economy and society:

CRR 2019: pp. 30–34

201-1

Direct economic value generated and distributed

Consolidated financial statements – Credit Suisse Group:

AR 2019: p. 261

ASC Topic 230 – Statement of Cash Flows:

AR 2019: p. 396

Compensation and benefits:

Tax:

AR 2019: p.

310

Results by business activity:

Assets under management:

AR 2019: pp. 57-64

AR 2019: p. 61

AR 2019: p. 72

Our role in the economy and society:

Sponsorship (Internet)

CRR 2019: pp. 30–34

See GRI Indicators 102-2, 102-3, 201-4 for information on the markets, regions, and business divisions of Credit Suisse.

201-2

Financial implications and other risks and opportunities due to climate change

Credit Suisse addresses the challenge of climate change at various levels. We take environmental and climate aspects into account in the areas of product development and risk management, and our operations have been greenhouse gas neutral globally since 2010.

Credit Suisse recognizes its share of responsibility in addressing the challenges of climate change, and we acknowledge that financial flows also need to be brought in line with the objectives of the Paris Agreement. We believe that our role as a financial intermediary is to act as a reliable partner in the transition to a low-carbon and climateresilient economy. Our principles and our approach to climate protection are set out in our Statement on Climate Change, and we became a founding signatory to the Principles for Responsible Banking of the UN Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) in 2019. In the same year, we introduced a Group-wide Climate Risk Strategy program, integrating our existing efforts as well as defining new measures.

For details on Credit Suisse’s climate-related risks and opportunities as well as our greenhouse gas emissions see Credit Suisse CDP reporting ( ).

www.cdp.net

Climate-related risks / TCFD implementation:

Trust and expertise:

CRR 2019: pp. 12-16

AR 2019: p. 157

Risk management and sustainability:

Climate change:

CRR 2019: p. 60

Climate Protection (Internet)

Statement on Climate Change (PDF)

CRR 2019: pp. 17–22

Global greenhouse gas neutrality – our four-pillar strategy (Internet)

6 201-3

Defined benefit plan obligations and other retirement plans

Pension plans:

AR 2019: pp. 320-328

GRI 203: Indirect economic impacts

GRI 103: Management approach for indirect economic impacts

103-1

103-2

103-3

Explanation of the

material topic and

its Boundary

The management

approach and its

components

Evaluation of the

management

approach

Credit Suisse strives to operate responsibly and efficiently to create value for its clients and shareholders .

Credit Suisse also aims to make an important contribution to the function of the economy and to play a constructive

role in society through our activities.

Through our role as a financial intermediary, we support entrepreneurship and economic growth, and we make an

economic contribution as an employer, taxpayer and contractual partner. We also support various humanitarian and

charitable organizations and projects as well as cultural and sporting events.

Our role in the economy and society:

CRR 2019: pp. 30-34

Our social commitments:

CRR 2019: pp. 35–41

203-1*

Infrastructure investments and services supported

In the area of financial inclusion, we structure investments that are designed to provide economically disadvantaged people – especially those in developing countries – with access to financial services. By providing these essential services, we believe that we can help unlock inclusive growth. We offer a number of products that address this – for example, our six higher education solutions are designed to provide funding to talented students from frontier markets to get loans for advanced education, the majority of whom have no alternative source of funding. Our activities in financial inclusion benefited around 1.5 million people in 2019.

Our Financial Inclusion Initiative (FII) helps to drive market development and innovation in this sector. The initiative aims to strengthen the ability of financial services providers to serve the increasingly diverse financial needs of people at the base of the income pyramid. To this end, we support the development of new products and services focusing on themes such as education, agriculture and gender diversity. We also make the expertise of our employees available to our financial inclusion and impact and SDG-oriented thematic investing partners through several volunteering programs, and we invest in early-stage innovation and financial technology (fintech) through our partnership with Accion’s financial technology accelerator Venture Lab.

Sustainable, thematic and impact investing products and services:

Our social commitments:

CRR 2019: pp. 35-39

Global Citizens Program:

CRR 2019: p. 36

Global Citizens Program (Internet)

Financial inclusion:

CRR 2019: p. 37

Financial Inclusion (Internet)

CRR 2019: pp.

23-27

Financial Education Initiative – selected figures 2014–2019:

Global Education Initiative (Internet)

CRR 2019: p. 35

203-2*

Significant indirect economic impacts

Since 2014, Credit Suisse has promoted financial education and life skills programs for girls through our Financial Education Initiative. Partners in our global Financial Education for Girls signature program are Aflatoun International, Plan International and Room to Read. As a global financial institution, we see first-hand the importance of financial skills in allowing people to actively participate in the economy and society. The Financial Education for Girls program aims to increase the financial knowledge of girls and to raise awareness of their social and economic rights – thus helping them to build a better future for themselves. The program is working to improve the financial education and life skills of over 100,000 adolescent girls in Brazil, China, India, Rwanda, Sri Lanka and Tanzania by 2021, and it is aligned with both the Financial Inclusion Initiative and our Future Skills program as well as Credit Suisse’s core business. From 2014 to 2019, 1,547 schools have benefited from our support, 3,760 teachers have been trained and 127,900 adolescent girls worldwide have benefited from financial education and life skills classes.

Credit Suisse has been a leader in the field of financial inclusion and microfinance since 2004, pioneering new funds and products, as well as IPOs and bond issuances to finance microfinance institutions. In addition to capital, microfinance institutions and fintechs also need talent and know-how to be able to scale up their activities responsibly with diverse products and services. Our Financial Inclusion Initiative is designed to strengthen the capacity of these institutions so that they can serve the financial needs of clients at the base of the income pyramid as effectively as possible. Here, the focus is on developing financial products and services in areas such as financing for agriculture and smallholder farmers, the construction and improvement of homes, the provision of financial services tailored specifically to women as well as the funding of education. For example, in 2019 our partner Opportunity International (OI) reached the milestone of bringing affordable quality education to more than four million children across the globe – an effort that was heavily supported by Credit Suisse’s early funding of OI’s Education Finance team.

In 2019, 134 microfinance institutions and fintech start-ups have benefited from our support. 1,140 local employees of microfinance institutions have been trained (number of trainers trained through our programmes) and over 372,200 people have benefited from access to new or improved products and services. With its investments our partner Accion Venture Lab generated an additional USD 130 million for financially inclusive fintechs.

Our role in the economy and society:

CRR 2019: pp. 30-34

Our social commitments:

CRR 2019: pp. 35-39

Global Education Initiative (Internet)

Financial Inclusion (Internet)

Global Citizens Program (Internet)

GRI 205: Anti-corruption

7 GRI 103: Management approach for anti-corruption

103-1

103-2

103-3

Explanation of the

material topic and

its Boundary

The management

approach and its

components

Evaluation of the

management

approach

We believe that protecting the integrity of the financial system is a core responsibility of banks. At Credit Suisse, we

are committed to complying with all applicable financial crime laws and regulations in the jurisdictions in which we

operate. We have established global policies and procedures in an effort to achieve more robust and consistent

standards of compliance, including in relation to politically exposed persons (PEP), the prevention of money laundering

and terrorist financing, bribery and corruption, as well as the adherence to applicable economic and trade sanctions

laws. In an effort to avoid direct and indirect involvement in such practices, we are committed to only doing business

with clients and third parties who meet and adhere to our standards. We have a wide range of policies, procedures and

internal controls, with requirements such as the evaluation of third parties who conduct business for or on behalf of

Credit Suisse and dedicated controls for our employees related to gifts and enterta inment, employment opportunities,

and charitable contributions.

Credit Suisse maintains active participation in the Wolfsberg Group, a reflection of our continued commitment to

understand the latest financial crime risks and controls, while also staying abreast of important regulatory and market

developments.

Financial integrity:

CRR 2019: pp. 13–15

Implementation of the Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact:

CRR 2019: p. 62

Wolfsberg Group (Internet)

205-1

Operations assessed for risks related to corruption

Financial integrity:

CRR 2019: pp. 13–15

GRI 206: Anti-competitive behavior

GRI 103: Management approach for anti-competitive behavior

103-1

103-2

103-3

Explanation of the

material topic and

its Boundary

The management

approach and its

components

Evaluation of the

management

approach

See 103 for 205 Anti-Corruption

206-1

Legal actions for anti-competitive behavior, anti-trust, and monopoly practices

See 419-1 Socioeconomic Compliance

GRI 300: ENVIRONMENTAL

SRS

Disclosure

Source

Scope

GRI 301: Materials

GRI 103: Management approach for materials

103-1

103-2

Explanation of the

material topic and its

Boundary

The management

approach and its

components

We take environmental impacts into account when conducting our business by developing sustainable products and

services and addressing sustainability issues when managing risk. The implementation of various operational measures

helps us to improve our environmental performance. When identifying key topics (i.e. materiality), we take account of

the standards set by the Association for Environmental Management and Sustainability at Financial Institutions (VIU).

Responsibility for the environment:

CRR 2019: pp. 54–60

Environment (Internet)

103-3

Evaluation of the

management

approach

Environmental Performance Data for 2019 (VfU) (PDF)

Achievements 2019 and Objectives 2020 (Environment):

CRR 2019: p. 69

301-1*

Materials used by weight or volume

Please refer to the VfU indicators file, which lists our consumptions in the areas of energy, water, waste and paper.

Global key performance indicators for environmental management:

Environmental Performance Data for 2019 (VfU) (PDF)

CRR 2019: p. 59

301-2*

Recycled input materials used

In order to reduce its environmental footprint, Credit Suisse focuses on increasing the share of FSC-certified (Forest Stewardship Council) paper. In 2019, the FSC share of paper consumption in Switzerland was 91%, compared to 93% in 2018. 78% of our global paper consumption in 2019 was of eco-certified quality.

Environmental management:

CRR 2019: p. 57

GRI 302: Energy

8 GRI 103: Management approach for energy

103-1

103-2

103-3

Explanation of the

material topic and its

Boundary

The management

approach and its

components

Evaluation of the

management

approach

Energy consumption represents the largest direct climate-related impact that Credit Suisse has on the environment.

The optimization of operations to increase energy efficiency is therefore a key component of our environmental strategy

in our efforts to achieve a sustained reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.

Responsibility for the environment:

CRR 2019: pp. 54–60

Achievements 2019 and Objectives 2020 (Environment):

CRR 2019: p. 69

302-1*

Energy consumption within the organization

The VfU Indicators File presents the in-house environmental performance indicators and includes the direct and indirect energy consumption from Credit Suisse’s premises.

Premises Energy Consumption 462,900MWh / 1,666,000 GJ with following share:

Electricity consumed 377,500 MWh / 1,359,000 GJ

District Heating consumed 23,000 MWh / 82,800 GJ

Fossil Fuels consumed 62,400 MWh / 225,000 GJ

Environmental Performance Data for 2019 (VfU) (PDF)

302-3*

Energy intensity

The intensity indicator reported is energy consumption per capita (FTE).

Please refer to the VfU indicators file, where the energy consumption per FTE is reported for overall energy consumption, electricity, district heating and fossil fuels.

Environmental Performance Data for 2019 (VfU) (PDF)

302-4*

Reduction of energy consumption

Examples for measures:





Servers that are no longer in use were responsibly handled through recycling or reuse. 1,342 servers were disposed through recycling, 547 decommissioned servers were reused for new demands, and 41 servers were sold. Overal, the server estate grew by 12,041 servers in 2019, with the virtual server estate increasing by 12,383 servers and the physical server estate reduced by 342 servers. If all 65,620 virtual servers were deployed as physical servers, there would have been an approximately 15,749-kW increase in power consumption.

Under the framework of our energy efficiency program, we have continued to optimize energy consumption at premises used for operational purposes in Switzerland. In 2019, thanks to 38 different measures across our building systems (heating, ventilation and air-conditioning), lighting and the building envelope, we have achieved a recurring increase in annual energy efficiency of 1.6 GWh. Overall, the measures implemented are equivalent to a reduction in CO 2 emissions of around 387 metric tons a year.

Responsibility for the environment:

CRR 2019: pp. 54–60

Measures Taken in All Regions (Internet)

GRI 303: Water

GRI 103: Management approach for water

103-1

103-2

103-3

Explanation of the

material topic and

its Boundary

The management

approach and its

components

Evaluation of the

management

approach

See 103 for 301 Materials

303-1*

Water withdrawal by source

The global water consumption in Credit Suisse buildings around the world was 765,000 m³ in 2019, 97% of which was drawn from local municipal utility companies. In Switzerland, Credit Suisse uses rainwater for gardening purposes at its Zurich Uetlihof building (the largest Credit Suisse building worldwide). For cooling purposes, Credit Suisse uses lake water in Zug and river water from the Rhone River in Geneva. This, however, is not a withdrawal; just the energy content of the water is used.

Global key performance indicators for environmental management:

Environmental Management (Internet)

Environmental Performance Data for 2019 (VfU) (PDF)

CRR 2019: p. 59

GRI 304: Biodiversity

GRI 103: Management approach for biodiversity

103-1

103-2

Explanation of the

material topic and

its Boundary

The management

approach and its

components

At Credit Suisse, we view the protection of biodiversity as an integral part of our sustainability commitments, and we

address this topic in a variety of ways. In our risk management processes, we have incorporated biodiversity -related

aspects into our sector-specific policies and guidelines. For example, our policy requirements for the forestry and

agribusiness sectors are aligned with relevant sustainability initiatives such as the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil

(RSPO) – of which we are a member – and the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). To promote good forestry and

agribusiness practices and to discourage net forest conversion, our policies also include restrictions on financing

9 103-3

Evaluation of the

management

approach

activities related to High Conservation Value Forests as well as provisions for the particular scrutiny of peatland

operations and the prohibition of financial services for operations in protected areas such as UNESCO World Heritage

sites.

We also engage with stakeholders on defining ways for the financial industry to contribu te to preserving biodiversity

and the world’s natural habitats. For instance, we have acted as a technical advisor to the Zoological Society of

London’s Sustainability Policy Transparency Toolkit (SPOTT) for a number of years, and are part of the Technical

Advisory Group for the palm oil and the timber and pulp sectors. SPOTT currently assesses over 200 commodity

producers and traders on the public disclosure of their policies, operations and commitments to environmental, social

and governance best practices. We also supported the expansion of the SPOTT platform to the natural rubber sector

in 2019, and we continue to assist with SPOTT website design and content updates through employee “virtual

volunteering” activities. Moreover, we provided support to the High Conservation Value Resource Network (HCVRN)

secretariat for the development of a training strategy to improve the quality of High Conservation Value and High

Carbon Stock Assessments in the palm oil sector.

Recognizing the need for capital in conserving ecosystems, we are active in the conservation finance space, which

focuses on the creation of new, long-term and diversified sources of revenue that can play a role in ensuring terrestrial

as well as marine biodiversity conservation and the health of natural ecosystems. We are expanding our product

offering in this space. In 2019, Credit Suisse was also the sole manager of a Sustainable Development Bond issuance

by the World Bank, focusing attention on the so-called “blue economy”.

Risk management and sustainability:

CRR 2019: pp. 17–22

Sustainable, thematic and impact investing products and services:

CRR 2019: pp. 23–27

Responsibility for the environment:

CRR 2019: pp. 54–60

Biodiversity & Natural Capital (Internet)

Conservation Finance (Internet)

Coalition for Private Investment in Conservation (Internet)

Environment (Internet)

304-1*

Operational sites owned, leased, managed in, or adjacent to protected areas and areas of high biodiversity value outside protected areas

Partially reported, as this indicator is not considered relevant for a financial services provider.

Credit Suisse’s largest offices are located in cities such as Zurich, London, New York, Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo and São Paulo. Credit Suisse has limited direct impacts on local biodiversity through its own internal operations, and those impacts do not affect any protected areas. Credit Suisse has premises with areas close to its headquarters in Zurich (Uetlihof/60,000 m 2 certified) and Horgen (Bocken/20,000 m 2 certified) which have been awarded the quality label "Naturpark der Schweizer Wirtschaft" (see also ), as they have been designed and are maintained in harmony with nature.

Stiftung Natur und Wirtschaft

Responsibility for the environment:

CRR 2019: pp. 54–60

304-2*

Significant impacts of activities, products, and services on biodiversity

Credit Suisse has limited direct impacts on local biodiversity through its own operations.

In our risk management processes, we have incorporated biodiversity-related aspects into our sector-specific policies and guidelines. For example, our policy requirements for the forestry and agribusiness sectors are aligned with relevant sustainability initiatives such as the RSPO – of which we are a member – and the FSC. To promote good forestry and agribusiness practices and to discourage net forest conversion, our policies also include restrictions on financing activities related to High Conservation Value Forests as well as provisions for the particular scrutiny of peatland operations and the prohibition of financial services for operations in protected areas such as UNESCO World Heritage sites.

We also engage with stakeholders on defining ways for the financial industry to contribute to preserving biodiversity and the world’s natural habitats. For instance, we have acted as a technical advisor to the Zoological Society of London’s SPOTT for a number of years, and are part of the Technical Advisory Group for the palm oil and the timber and pulp sectors. SPOTT currently assesses over 200 commodity producers and traders on the public disclosure of their policies, operations and commitments to environmental, social and governance best practices. We also supported the expansion of the SPOTT platform to the natural rubber sector in 2019, and we continue to assist with SPOTT website design and content updates through employee “virtual volunteering” activities. Moreover, we provided support to the High Conservation Value Resource Network (HCVRN) secretariat for the development of a training strategy to improve the quality of High Conservation Value and High Carbon Stock Assessments in the palm oil sector.

Recognizing the need for capital in conserving ecosystems, we are active in the conservation finance space, which focuses on the creation of new, long-term and diversified sources of revenue that can play a role in ensuring terrestrial as well as marine biodiversity conservation and the health of natural ecosystems. We are expanding our product offering in this space. In 2019, Credit Suisse was also the sole manager of a Sustainable Development Bond issuance by the World Bank, focusing attention on the so-called “blue economy”.

Risk management and sustainability:

CRR 2019: pp. 17-22

Risk Management and Sustainability Internet)

Biodiversity and natural capital:

CRR 2019: pp. 55–56

Biodiversity & Natural Capital (Internet)

GRI 305: Emissions

GRI 103: Management approach for emissions

103-1

103-2

Explanation of the

material topic and

its Boundary

The management

approach and its

components

Statement on Climate Change (PDF)

Global key performance indicators for environmental management:

CRR 2019: p. 59

Environmental management (Internet)

Environmental Performance Data for 2019 (VfU) (PDF)

See also 103 for 301 Materials

10 103-3

Evaluation of the

management

approach

305-1*

Direct (Scope 1) GHG emissions

Credit Suisse generated 127,500 metric tons of net greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions globally (measured in CO 2 equivalents, Scope 1–3, rounded figures) in 2019. Of this, 15,600 metric tons were direct emissions (Scope 1). For the regional split and further details see the 2019 VfU Indicators File.

The primary sources of Credit Suisse’s emissions are energy consumption from premises and business travel. Credit Suisse’s net emissions (Scope 1–3, rounded figures) were 152,900 metric tons in 2018 and 164,800 metric tons in 2017. These figures are offset to zero in our voluntary GHG neutrality.

Global key performance indicators for environmental management:

Environmental Performance Data for 2019 (VfU) (PDF)

CRR 2019: p. 59

305-2*

Energy indirect (Scope 2) GHG emissions

Credit Suisse generated 127,500 metric tons of net greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions globally (measured in CO 2 equivalents, Scope 1–3, scope 2 market based, rounded figures) in 2019. Of this 19,500 metric tons were indirect emissions Scope 2 market based mix. Scope 2 emissions according to the location based mix are 142,400 metric tons, leading to gross GHG emissions of 250,400 metric tons globally for Scope 1–3 (location based).

Global key performance indicators for environmental management:

Environmental Performance Data for 2019 (VfU) (PDF)

CRR 2019: p. 59

305-3*

Other indirect (Scope 3) GHG emissions

Credit Suisse’s other indirect GHG emissions (Scope 3) were 92,400 metric tons (measured in CO 2 equivalents) in 2019.

Global key performance indicators for environmental management:

Environmental Performance Data for 2019 (VfU) (PDF)

CRR 2019: p. 59

305-4*

GHG emissions intensity

The intensity indicator reported is GHG emissions per capita (FTE).

Please refer to the VfU indicators file, where the greenhouse gas emissions per FTE are reported for overall greenhouse gas emissions gross and net as well as Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions per FTE.

Environmental Performance Data for 2019 (VfU) (PDF)

305-5*

Reduction of GHG emissions

Credit Suisse became the first major Swiss corporation to achieve GHG neutrality for its operations in Switzerland in 2006. Since 2010, it has achieved this for all operations globally by pursuing a four-pillar strategy: optimizing operations through efficiency gains and reduction of energy consumption; investing in low-energy renovation, new building, and technology; substituting conventional energy with climate-friendly energy sources; and finally, compensating remaining GHG emissions with the purchase of emissions reduction certificates (ERCs).

Responsibility for the environment:

CRR 2019: pp. 54–60

Greenhouse gas neutrality (Internet)

Measures Taken in All Regions (Internet)

GRI 306: Effluents and waste

GRI 103: Management approach for effluents and waste

103-1

103-2

103-3

Explanation of the

material topic and

its Boundary

The management

approach and its

components

Evaluation of the

management

approach

Global key performance indicators for environmental management:

CRR 2019: p. 59

Environmental Management (Internet)

Environmental Performance Data for 2019 (VfU) (PDF)

See also 103 for 301 Materials

306-1*

Water discharged by quality and destination

The annual water consumption of Credit Suisse of 765,000 m³ in 2019 is considered household wastewater and treated in municipal sewage purification plants. According to updated GHG footprint calculations according to VfU Standard 2018, it is estimated that the energy used for the delivery and the purification of our water consumption resulted in GHG emissions (CO 2 equivalents) of approximately 500 metric tons per year.

Global key performance indicators for environmental management:

Environmental Performance Data for 2019 (VfU) (PDF)

CRR 2019: p. 59

306-2*

Waste by type and disposal method

The total amount of waste in 2019 was 6,320 tons/130 kg per FTE. 44% of the global waste is recycled, 24% incinerated, 32% deposited in landfills and 0.1% is hazardous waste.

Global key performance indicators for environmental management:

Environmental Performance Data for 2019 (VfU) (PDF)

CRR 2019: p. 59

GRI 308: Supplier environmental assessment

GRI 103: Management approach for supplier environmental assessment

103-1

103-2

Explanation of the

material topic and

its Boundary

The management

approach and its

components

Supplier Code of Conduct and Third Party Risk Management (TPRM):

CRR 2019: p. 22

Supplier Code of Conduct (PDF)

11 103-3

Evaluation of the

management

approach

308-1*

New suppliers that were screened using environmental criteria

Credit Suisse works with numerous suppliers and service providers from a broad range of sectors. We expect these partners to address risks responsibly and to conduct their business in a socially and environmentally responsible manner. Our Supplier Code of Conduct, which was last updated in February 2020, aims to ensure that our external business partners respect human rights, labor rights, employment laws and environmental regulations. To manage financial, operational and reputational risks and to meet the increasing regulatory requirements governing business relationships with third parties, Credit Suisse introduced the Third Party Risk Management (TPRM) framework in 2016. Through TPRM, we assess potential environmental, social and labor law-related risks, among others, in connection with third parties. The framework also allows Credit Suisse to continuously monitor these relationships, to raise and track issues and, if necessary, to demand actions for improvement from suppliers and service providers. Our TPRM framework is embedded in day-to-day sourcing and vendor management processes to assess risks when conducting business with suppliers. All supplier relationships undergo an initial screening, which also considers environmental criteria. As a result, in 2019, 18% of supplier relationships have been referred to Sustainability Affairs for an assessment of environmental and social risks.

Supplier Code of Conduct and Third Party Risk Management (TPRM):

Supplier Code of Conduct (PDF)

CRR 2019: p. 22

GRI 400: SOCIAL

SRS

Disclosure

Source

Scope

GRI 401: Employment

GRI 103: Management approach for employment

103-1

103-2

103-3

Explanation of the

material topic and

its Boundary

The management

approach and its

components

Evaluation of the

management

approach

The success of our company ultimately depends on the skills, experience and conduct of our employees. For our

business to perform well, we must offer our clients best-in-class financial solutions and banking services. This goal can

only be realized if we can attract and retain the most talented professionals in our role as an employer of choice.

At Credit Suisse, we offer exciting careers, progressive employment conditions and wide-ranging training and

development opportunities. As a result, our employees benefit from attractive long-term career prospects in an

international working environment, helping us to retain their knowledge and experience within the bank and to derive

maximum benefit from it in the interests of our clients.

Responsibility as an employer:

CRR 2019: pp. 44–50

Employer (Internet)

401-1*

New employee hires and employee turnover

The global voluntary turnover rate for 2019 was 9.8% (11.4% in 2018). The global involuntary turnover rate for 2018 was 3.2% (5.0% in 2018).

Regional breakdown of voluntary turnover relative to the total number of employees for 2019: 9.5% in the Americas; 11.8% in APAC; 10.8% in EMEA, and 7.8% in Switzerland.

Regional breakdown of involuntary turnover relative to the total number of employees for 2019: 3.9% in the Americas; 1.9% in APAC; 4.8% in EMEA, and 3.0% in Switzerland.

Credit Suisse does not report on the turnover rate by gender and age group, due to bank-specific regulatory limitations and internal guidelines.

Employee turnover:

CRR 2019: p. 46

401-2

Benefits provided to full-time employees that are not provided to temporary or part-time employees

Responsibility as an employer:

Employer (Internet)

CRR 2019: pp. 44–50

GRI 402: Labor/management relations

GRI 103: Management approach for labor/management relations

103-1

103-2

103-3

Explanation of the

material topic and

its Boundary

The management

approach and its

components

Evaluation of the

management

approach

See 103 for 401 Employment

402-1

Minimum notice periods regarding operational changes

Notice periods for operational changes are labor-market specific. If restructuring and redundancies are unavoidable, Credit Suisse tries to implement these measures in a responsible, fair, and consistent manner, taking the individual circumstances of the affected employees into consideration. Credit Suisse strives to offer employees time, tools, and professional support in these circumstances. In certain regions, focus is placed on providing individual support and personal advice to help the employees start a new career.

Responsibility as an employer:

Employer (Internet)

CRR 2019: pp. 44–50

12 GRI 403: Occupational health and safety

GRI 103: Management approach for occupational health and safety

103-1

103-2

103-3

403-1

403-2

Explanation of the material topic and its Boundary

The management approach and its components

Evaluation of the management approach

Workers representation in formal joint managementworker health and safety committees

Types of injury and rates of injury, occupational diseases, lost days, and absenteeism, and number of work-related fatalities

GRI 404: Training and education

We consider employee health and safety to be of the utmost importance, and we have internal policies in place to help guarantee a safe office environment. Subject matter experts ensure that continuous safety improvements are made in line with local legal requirements. One example from 2019 is the introduction of a global Health & Safety Incident Reporting System, which considerably simplifies the evaluation of relevant statistics and thus supports the choice of appropriate accident prevention measures. In 2011, Credit Suisse became the first Swiss financial services provider to be awarded OHSAS 18001 certification (Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series) for its operations in Switzerland. We successfully renewed this certification in 2018.

Attractive working environment and flexible working:

Flexibility & Health (Internet)

See 103 for 403 Occupational Health and Safety

CRR 2019: pp. 48–49

Responsibility as an employer:

CRR 2019: pp. 44–50

Credit Suisse does not currently report on lost days and absenteeism globally, as definitions of these differ nationally and are governed by local legal requirements and Credit Suisse’s systems capture this data on a regional rather than global level. For 2019 in Switzerland only, 2.4% of the committed overall working time comprised absences due to illness or accidents (for 2018 the rate was 2.7% and for 2017 the rate was 2.5%).

GRI 103: Management approach for training and education

103-1

103-2

103-3

404-1*

404-2*

404-3*

Explanation of the material topic and its Boundary

The management approach and its components

Evaluation of the management approach

Average hours of training per year per employee

Programs for upgrading employee skills and transition assistance programs

Percentage of employees receiving regular performance and career

Our training and development programs enable us to further improve the quality of our service and advisory offering and to continuously adapt our business to evolving market and client needs.

Credit Suisse offers employees a wide range of training programs involving traditional classroom instruction, e-learning, video-based courses and online learning communities. Additionally, employees can complete short training programs on their mobile devices, enhancing the user experience.

Responsibility as an employer:

Talent Development (Internet)

CRR 2019: pp. 44–50

In 2019, each Credit Suisse employee received an average of 19 training hours. By employee category, the training hours per employee (including contractors) were: staff (Staff, Exempt Non-Officer and Analyst) 23.3 training hours; middle management (Associate and Assistant Vice President) 16.5 training hours; senior management (Vice President, Director, and Managing Director) 15.7 training hours.

Responsibility as an employer:

Talent Development (Internet)

CRR 2019: pp. 44-50

Credit Suisse offers employees a wide range of training programs involving traditional classroom instruction, e-learning, video-based courses and online learning communities. Additionally, employees can complete short training programs on their mobile devices, enhancing the user experience. Additionally, employees can complete short training programs on their mobile devices, enhancing the user experience. Each employee completed at least ten mandatory training modules in the course of the year, depending on his or her area of responsibility. In 2019, launched over 70 new mandatory e-learning programs on regulatory topics such as financial crime, cyber security and information awareness, as well as compliance with our Conduct and Ethics Standards. Our client-facing employees complete courses on cross-border activities and on topics such as the transition away from the IBOR benchmark interest rates to Alternative Reference Rates. In addition, a new course on the identification and management of conflicts of interest was conducted to train all personnel on this topic, which is of critical importance for the bank.

In 2019, we achieved a 99.8% (2018=99.8%) completion rate for mandatory training.

Talent Development in figures for 2019: 725 classroom leadership training sessions and 58,900 classroom-delivered training days; 74,200 participants in instructor-led courses; 996,900 participants in e-learning courses including mandatory modules; on average, 83% of the participants were satisfied with instructor-led training.

At Credit Suisse, we are also committed to helping employees realize their full potential at every stage of their career, including more mature professionals within our workforce who bring considerable skills and experience to their roles. We provide tailored support so that this group of employees can adjust their skill sets to changing market needs, adapt to new environments and remain employable in the labor market.

Responsibility as an employer:

CRR 2019: pp. 44-50

Our experienced employees in Switzerland / Challenge and Response:

CRR 2019: p. 49

Diversity in the Workplace: Credit Suisse Ranks Top among the Largest Swiss Companies (Internet)

In 2019, the bank-wide completion rate of the annual performance review was 98%.

Credit Suisse does not report on the breakdown by gender and by employee category, due to bank specific regulatory limitations and internal guidelines.

13 development reviews

Additional details on Credit Suisse’s Performance and Development can be found in the CRR; please refer to:

Responsibility as an employer:

CRR 2019: pp. 44-50

GRI 405: Diversity and equal opportunity

GRI 103: Management approach for diversity and equal opportunity

103-1

103-2

103-3

405-1*

Explanation of the material topic and its Boundary

The management approach and its components

Evaluation of the management approach

Diversity of governance bodies and employees

The diversity of our workforce, including the different skills, mindsets, knowledge and experience of our employees, gives us a better understanding of our clients’ expectations, cultural backgrounds and regional markets. Credit Suisse today employs people from 180 different countries. We are committed to providing and promoting equal opportunities, regardless of ethnicity, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, age, civil or marital status, pregnancy, disability, or any other characteristics protected by law.

Our internal experts work closely with our businesses across the globe to ensure that a diversity and inclusion framework is firmly embedded in our corporate culture. They partner with managers on the planning and implementation of initiatives to promote an inclusive working environment. We also consider it important to engage in a dialogue with external partners in the area of diversity and inclusion. In January 2019, Credit Suisse was once again awarded first place among participating institutions in the Diversity Index published by the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts. In 2019, AVTAR benchmarked Credit Suisse as one of the Top Ten Best Places to Work for Women and named the Bank as an “Exemplar of Inclusion”. This underscores the Group’s continuous commitment to diversity and inclusion in the workplace.

Diversity and inclusion/Advancement of women:

Global Diversity & Inclusion (Internet)

CRR 2019: pp. 46–47

Women account for 37% of Credit Suisse’s total workforce (full-time equivalents), 22% of Credit Suisse’s senior leadership (Directors and Managing Directors), 3 out of 12 members of the Executive Board and 3 out of 13 members of the Board of Directors.

The age breakdown of Credit Suisse employees for 2019 was as follows:

<20 years (apprentices) 1.1%; from 20–29 years 18.6%; from 30–39 years 36.9%; from 40–49 years 26.2%; from 50–59 years 14.6%; >59 years 2.6%. Credit Suisse does not report on the breakdown by minority group, due to bank specific regulatory limitations and internal guidelines.

Responsibility as an employer:

CRR 2019: pp. 44-50

Board of Directors:

AR 2019: pp.188-209

Executive Board:

AR 2019: pp. 220-219

GRI 406: Non-discrimination

GRI 103: Management approach for non-discrimination

103-1

103-2

103-3

406-1

Explanation of the material topic and its Boundary

The management approach and its components

Evaluation of the management approach

Incidents of discrimination and corrective actions taken

See 103 for 405 Diversity and Equal Opportunity

Credit Suisse is committed to providing and promoting equal opportunities, regardless of ethnicity, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, age, civil or marital status, pregnancy, disability, or any other characteristics protected by law. Our internal experts work closely with our businesses across the globe to ensure that a diversity and inclusion framework is firmly embedded in our corporate culture.

Details are not reported due to confidentiality reasons.

Diversity and inclusion/Advancement of women:

Global Diversity & Inclusion (Internet)

CRR 2019: pp. 46–47

GRI 407: Freedom of association and collective bargaining

GRI 103: Management approach for freedom of association and collective bargaining

103-1

103-2

103-3

407-1*

Explanation of the material topic and its Boundary

The management approach and its components

Evaluation of the management approach

Operations and suppliers in which the right to freedom

Credit Suisse is a signatory of the UN Global Compact, whose Principle 3 outlines that businesses should uphold the freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining. Regarding its own employees, Credit Suisse considers it important to maintain close contact with its staff. To do so, Credit Suisse cooperates closely with employee bodies that represent the interests of staff, such as the European Works Council in the EU, and the Swiss Staff Council (PKOM) in Switzerland.

Risk management and sustainability:

CRR 2019: pp. 17–22

Implementation of the Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact:

UN Global Compact (Internet)

Employee Representation (Internet)

CRR 2019: p. 62

Credit Suisse is a signatory of the UN Global Compact, whose Principle 3 outlines that businesses should uphold the freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining. Regarding its own employees, Credit Suisse considers it

14 of association and collective bargaining may be at risk

important to maintain close contact with its staff. To do so, Credit Suisse cooperates closely with employee bodies that represent the interests of staff, such as the European Works Council in the EU, and PKOM in Switzerland.

Regarding its relationships with clients and suppliers, Credit Suisse seeks to include human rights considerations in all of its sector-specific global policies and in its Supplier Code of Conduct and the TPRM framework.

Credit Suisse works with numerous suppliers and service providers from a broad range of sectors. We expect these partners to address risks responsibly and to conduct their business in a socially and environmentally responsible manner. Our Supplier Code of Conduct, which was last updated in February 2020, aims to ensure that our external business partners respect human rights, labor rights, employment laws and environmental regulations. To manage financial, operational and reputational risks and to meet the increasing regulatory requirements governing business relationships with third parties, Credit Suisse introduced the TPRM framework in 2016. Through TPRM, we assess potential environmental, social and labor law-related risks, among others, in connection with third parties. The framework also allows Credit Suisse to continuously monitor these relationships, to raise and track issues and, if necessary, to demand actions for improvement from suppliers and service providers.

Our TPRM framework is embedded in day-to-day sourcing and vendor management processes to assess risks when conducting business with suppliers.

Risk management and sustainability:

CRR 2019: pp. 17-22

Supplier Code of Conduct and Third Party Risk Management (TPRM):

Supplier Code of Conduct (PDF)

CRR 2019: p. 22

GRI 408: Child labor

GRI 103: Management approach for child labor

103-1

103-2

103-3

408-1*

Explanation of the material topic and its Boundary

The management approach and its components

Evaluation of the management approach

Operations and suppliers at significant risk for incidents of child labor

Risk management and sustainability:

CRR 2019: pp. 17-22

Risk Mamagement and Sustainability (Internet)

Implementation of the Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact:

UN Global Compact (Internet)

Statement on Human Rights (PDF)

Suppliers (Internet)

Supplier Code of Conduct (PDF)

CRR 2019: p. 62

Credit Suisse is a signatory of the UN Global Compact, whose Principle 5 outlines the abolition of child labor. As a global financial services provider, Credit Suisse’s risks related to child labor may arise indirectly through relationships with clients and suppliers. To manage these risks towards clients, human rights considerations are included in all of the bank’s sector-specific global policies. In these policies, Credit Suisse states that it will not finance or advise companies where there is credible evidence of involvement in grave human rights abuses, including child labor.

To manage these risks towards suppliers, Credit Suisse sets forth human rights provisions in its Supplier Code of Conduct, including the rejection of child labor.

Risk management and sustainability:

CRR 2019: pp. 17-22

Respecting human rights:

CRR 2019: pp. 20

Statement on Human Rights (PDF)

Supplier Code of Conduct and Third Party Risk Management (TPRM):

Suppliers (Internet)

Supplier Code of Conduct (PDF)

CRR 2019: p. 22

Implementation of the Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact:

UN Global Compact (Internet)

CRR 2019: p. 62

GRI 409: Forced or compulsory labor

GRI 103: Management approach for forced or compulsory labor

103-1

103-2

103-3

409-1*

Explanation of the material topic and its Boundary

The management approach and its components

Evaluation of the management approach

Operations and suppliers at significant risk for incidents of forced or compulsory labor

See also 103 for 408 Child Labor

Credit Suisse is a signatory of the UN Global Compact, whose Principle 4 outlines the elimination of forced or compulsory labor. As a global financial services provider, risks related to forced labor may arise indirectly through relationships with clients and suppliers. In order for Credit Suisse to manage these risks towards clients, human rights considerations are included in all of the bank’s sector-specific global policies. In these policies, Credit Suisse states that it will not finance or advise companies where there is credible evidence of involvement in grave human rights abuses, including forced labor. To manage these risks towards suppliers, Credit Suisse sets forth human rights provisions in its Supplier Code of Conduct, including the rejection of forced or compulsory labor.

Our Modern Slavery & Human Trafficking Transparency Statement sets out the steps that Credit Suisse is taking to prevent the occurrence of modern slavery and human trafficking in our business operations and within our supply chain.

15 Risk management and sustainability:

CRR 2019: pp. 17-

22

Respecting human rights:

CRR 2019: p. 20

Statement on Human Rights (PDF)

Supplier Code of Conduct and Third Party Risk Management (TPRM):

Supplier Code of Conduct (PDF)

CRR 2019: p. 22

Implementation of the Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact:

UN Global Compact (Internet)

CRR 2019: p. 62

Modern Slavery & Human Trafficking Transparency Statement 2019 (Internet)

GRI 412: Human rights assessment

GRI 103: Management approach for human rights assessment

103-1

103-2

103-3

412-1*

412-3*

Explanation of the material topic and its Boundary

The management approach and its components

Evaluation of the management approach

Operations that have been subject to human rights reviews or impact assessments

Total number and percentage of significant investment agreements and contracts that include human rights clauses or that underwent human rights screening

Reputational Risk Review Process:

CRR 2019: pp. 17-18

Risk management and sustainability:

CRR 2019: pp. 17-

22

Risk Management and Sustainability (Internet)

In 2019, a total of 799 transactions or client relationships were assessed using the risk review process to determine whether they posed an environmental or social risk. 73% of the transactions were approved, 8% were approved with conditions, 10% were rejected or not pursued and 9% are still pending (as of January 31, 2020). These statistics exclude potential transactions that were not formally reviewed as part of the risk review process because they were immediately identified by the relationship manager as being non-compliant with Credit Suisse’s requirements and guidelines.

Sector breakdown of transactions (including Equator Principles transactions): 2% Chemicals, 13% Power generation and transmission, 2% Defense, 11% Forestry and Agribusiness, 8% Infrastructure and transportation, 16% Oil & Gas, 20% Metals and mining, 7% Finance, and 21% Other.

Risk management and sustainability:

CRR 2019: pp. 17-22

Risk Management and Sustainability (Internet)

Credit Suisse is a signatory of the UN Global Compact, whose Principle 2 includes the provision that a company is not complicit in human rights abuses. If Credit Suisse believes that an investment transaction could pose such a risk, Credit Suisse carries out a detailed internal risk review process. Human rights considerations are included in all of the bank’s sector-specific global policies. In these policies, Credit Suisse states that it will not finance or advise companies where there is credible evidence of involvement in grave human rights abuses such as forced labor, employment of children, or the use of violence against local communities and indigenous groups.

In 2019, a total of 799 transactions or client relationships were assessed using the risk review process to determine whether they posed an environmental or social risk. 73% of the transactions were approved, 8% were approved with conditions, 10% were rejected or not pursued and 9% are still pending (as of January 31, 2020). These statistics exclude potential transactions that were not formally reviewed as part of the risk review process because they were immediately identified by the relationship manager as being non-compliant with Credit Suisse’s requirements and guidelines.

Sector breakdown of transactions (including Equator Principles transactions): 2% Chemicals, 13% Power generation and transmission, 2% Defense, 11% Forestry and Agribusiness, 8% Infrastructure and transportation, 16% Oil & Gas, 20% Metals and mining, 7% Finance, and 21% Other.

Risk management and sustainability:

CRR 2019: pp. 17-22

Risk Management and Sustainability (Internet)

Sector Policies and Guidelines (PDF)

Human Rights (Internet)

Statement on Human Rights (PDF)

GRI 414: Supplier social assessment

GRI 103: Management approach for supplier social assessment

103-1

103-2

103-3

414-1*

Explanation of the material topic and its Boundary

The management approach and its components

Evaluation of the management approach

New suppliers that were screened using social criteria

Supplier Code of Conduct and Third Party Risk Management (TPRM):

Suppliers (Internet)

Supplier Code of Conduct (PDF)

CRR 2019: p. 22

Credit Suisse works with numerous suppliers and service providers from a broad range of sectors. We expect these partners to address risks responsibly and to conduct their business in a socially and environmentally responsible manner. Our Supplier Code of Conduct, which was last updated in February 2020, aims to ensure that our external

16 business partners respect human rights, labor rights, employment laws and environmental regulations. To manage financial, operational and reputational risks and to meet the increasing regulatory requirements governing business relationships with third parties, Credit Suisse introduced the TPRM framework in 2016. Through TPRM, we assess potential environmental, social and labor law-related risks, among others, in connection with third parties. The framework also allows Credit Suisse to continuously monitor these relationships, to raise and track issues and, if necessary, to demand actions for improvement from suppliers and service providers.

Our TPRM framework is embedded in day-to-day sourcing and vendor management processes to assess risks when conducting business with suppliers. All supplier relationships undergo an initial screening, which also considers social criteria. As a result, in 2019, 18% of supplier relationships have been referred to Sustainability Affairs for an assessment of environmental and social risks.

Supplier Code of Conduct and Third Party Risk Management (TPRM):

Supplier Code of Conduct (PDF)

CRR 2019: p. 22

GRI 415: Public policy

GRI 103: Management approach for public policy

103-1

103-2

103-3

415-1

Explanation of the material topic and its Boundary

The management approach and its components

Evaluation of the management approach

Political contributions

Credit Suisse considers it important to engage in discussions with various stakeholders – from policymakers, legislators and regulators to representatives of the business community and society – to understand the issues that are important to them and to help find constructive solutions to current challenges.

Our role in the economy and society:

CRR 2019: pp. 30–34

Supporting the political system in Switzerland and beyond:

CRR 2019: p. 33

GRI 417: Marketing and labeling

GRI 103: Management approach for marketing and labeling

103-1

103-2

103-3

417-1

Explanation of the material topic and its Boundary

The management approach and its components

Evaluation of the management approach

Requirements for product and service information and labeling

Trust and expertise:

CRR 2019: pp. 14–18

Credit Suisse has global policies in place as part of its efforts to ensure appropriate and accurate product and service information is obtained and compliance with applicable laws and regulations of countries where products and services are used and distributed is achieved.

Trust and expertise:

CRR 2019: pp. 12–16

GRI 418: Customer privacy

GRI 103: Management approach for customer privacy

103-1

103-2

103-3

418-1

Explanation of the material topic and its Boundary

The management approach and its components

Evaluation of the management approach

Substantiated complaints concerning breaches of customer privacy and losses of customer data

See 103 for 417 Marketing and Labeling

Not disclosed due to confidentiality



17 GRI 419: Socioeconomic compliance

GRI 103: Management approach for socioeconomic compliance

103-1

103-2

103-3

419-1

Explanation of the material topic and its Boundary

The management approach and its components

Evaluation of the management approach

Non-compliance with laws and regulations in the social and economic area

See 103 for 417 Marketing and Labeling

Credit Suisse discloses material matters as mandated by legal and regulatory requirements in its financial reports and other public filings; please refer to:

Litigation:

AR 2019: pp. 3787-387

Trust and expertise:

CRR 2019: pp. 12–16

18
The responsible
consumer
Whitepaper
The responsible consumer – Credit Suisse 3
The responsible
consumer
04 Foreword
06 Introduction 16
Chapter 3
The opportunity
17 Spotlight: A note on plastics
18 Fashion
22 Consumer electronics
24 Food & beverage
28 Mobility
29 Spotlight:
Are electric vehicles sustainable?
32 Household & personal products
35 Spotlight: Investing in
“The responsible consumer” theme
36 Sustainable tourism
38
Conclusion
12
Chapter 2
Forces of change
12 Legal & regulatory pressure
on the rise
13 Changing consumer preferences
14 Spotlight: A view from Asia
15 Investors take note
Table of contents
40 Imprint
41 Important information
42 References
08
Chapter 1
Ecological limits
08 Demographic pressure rising
09 Ecosystems on the brink
10 Spotlight: Value chain
4 The responsible consumer – Credit Suisse 5
Foreword
Since establishing the Impact Advisory & Finance (IAF)
Department in October 2017, we have published a number
of thought leadership pieces sharing our perspectives
on the rapidly developing sustainable finance market.
As IAF continues to engage with clients across
the bank, from ultra-high net worth individuals to
large institutional investors and corporates, we
are able to identify those emerging trends, themes,
and business opportunities of most relevance
to our clients that align with their growing appetite
to invest more sustainably. Our aim is to utilize
our expertise and market insights to meet these
demands with differentiated, tailored solutions.
In some cases, this will be through a bespoke product or offering that meets the need of an
individual client; but often, we are able to create
an investment vehicle that we believe will have
broad appeal.
As we seek to further leverage our resources,
relationships, and structuring skills to bring
additional thematic investable opportunities to
clients interested in sustainable finance, we
are aided by attempts, both internal and external,
to frame the investment landscape. Externally,
the creation of the UN’s Sustainable Development
Goals (the SDGs) has provided a basis for a
shared language and for prioritizing areas of focus.
Internally, readers of this whitepaper may be
familiar with the Credit Suisse Supertrends, which
have identified five secular market trends that
are expected to transcend economic cycles and
provide attractive long-term investment returns;
one of which is “Millennials’ values.”
The notion of the responsible consumer,
in line with SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption
and Production) falls squarely within our
“Millennials’ values” Supertrend, as Millennials
are significantly disrupting many traditional
business models and creating completely new ones
by increasingly voting with their powerful
collective wallets. They are demanding a more
environmentally-friendly, ethical approach to
business and investment and supporting concepts
such as the circular economy, which calls for
the elimination of waste and the continuous use
of resources in a closed loop system.
Companies that are prepared and able to respond
to these demands will attract the Millennial
dollar and are already showing discernible valuation
benefits. The recent Initial Public Offerings
(IPOs) of companies such as The RealReal, the
first public listing of a consignment clothing business, which traded up 40% within the first trading
day, and Beyond Meat, the plant-based alternative hamburger business which has been the
best performing IPO in over two decades,
are just two examples of companies whose
business models are fully aligned with the
responsible consumer. We are proud at Credit
Suisse to have been a lead underwriter on
both of these offerings and we look forward to
continuing to play a meaningful role ahead
in supporting our clients to “Generate returns.
Sustainably.”
Marisa Drew
CEO, Impact Advisory & Finance (IAF) Department
6 The responsible consumer – Credit Suisse 7
Introduction
The problem is that society is in a global overshoot, consuming more resources than the Earth
can possibly sustain. The term “environmental
credit crunch” best articulates our current predicament. Like in finance, credit allows a borrower
to increase material wellbeing today at the expense
of future income. In environmental terms, this
means raising the standard of living of current generations through the consumption of finite
natural resources. And just as in finance, a credit
crunch occurs when the act of using credit is
no longer possible.
The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) first coined the
term in early 2008, but it was quickly overshadowed by another, more immediate credit
crunch – the 2008 financial crisis. As a result,
instead of winding down its dependence on nature,
the global community found itself accelerating
the pace of borrowing, repaying current financial
debts while accruing a greater and greater
ecological deficit.
The results have been concerning. Global greenhouse gas emissions rose to an all-time high
in 2018, despite international commitments to
decarbonize. One in four species is now at
risk of extinction – adding up to approximately
one million species globally. And the equivalent
of roughly 30 football fields of tropical forests
are lost every minute as a result of unsustainable
agriculture and land-use practices.
The word “consume” literally means to “destroy,
as by fire or disease, to squander, to use up.”
But consumerism need not be so destructive.
Goal 12 of the United Nations Sustainable
Development Goals seeks to ensure sustainable
consumption and production. Achieving this
goal would do more than just save the planet. It
could also create vast new economic opportunities. From secondhand fashion to plant-based
proteins, transitioning to a more sustainable
consumer economy could unlock USD 4.5 trillion
in new opportunities per year.
This report was printed on 100% recycled fibers,
no trees have been felled. Unlike conventional
paper production, the process was completely
chlorine free and used 60% less energy and
70% less water. It bears the highest quality label
of recycling paper, “Blauer Engel.”
The ink printed on this paper is mineral oil free
and consists only of renewable materials.
Additionally, with the printing of this publication,
Credit Suisse supports a carbon offset project
called “Forest conservation in Pará,” which helps
conserve of 90,000 hectares of rainforest
in Brazil. This is an important source of carbon
reduction (145,000 tons a year).
Over the past half-century, extreme poverty has shrunk by
more than half; global infant mortality has plummeted
by nearly 75%; and the length of schooling for an average
person has more than doubled. All of this has been
made possible, in no small part, by consumerism. After all,
consumerism is the engine that drives our capitalist
economy, which in turn fuels the economic growth upon
which investment returns are made. 
8 The responsible consumer – Credit Suisse 9
World population
The size of the world population over the last 12,000 years, in billion
Source Our World in Data
7
8
0.6 bn in 1700
0.99 bn in 1800
1.65 bn in 1900
2 bn in 1928
3 bn in 1960
4 bn in 1975
5 bn in 1987
6 bn in 1999
7 bn in 2011
7.7 bn in 2019
3
6
2
5
1
10,000 BCE 8,000 BCE 6,000 BCE 4,000 BCE 2,000 BCE 0 2000
4
Ecosystems on the brink
Consumer goods comprise an estimated two thirds
of global trade by volume, making it one of the
most important sectors in the global economy. Its
size comes at a cost: A new study in the Journal
of Industrial Ecology found that household consumption is responsible for 60% of global
greenhouse gas emissions and 80% of fresh water
usage (primarily from agricultural irrigation).
When taking into account the full value chain –
from material extraction through to end-oflife – consumer goods drive a bigger share of
ecosystem losses than any other sector.
Conventional methods of extraction, production,
distribution, consumption, and disposal have
been built around the presumption of cheap and
unlimited natural resources. From an environmental standpoint, the global consumer goods
economy is hugely inefficient (see value
chain on page 10).
Chapter 1
Ecological limits
Demographic pressure rising
Since farming began in the Fertile Crescent
around 10,000 years ago, the world’s population
has increased from approximately 5 million
to nearly 7.7 billion, and is expected to peak at
around 9.5 billion by the middle of this century.
Clearly, population growth comes with its own set
of inherent challenges. Theoretically, at least,
more people require more resources, meaning
that, as the population increases, the Earth’s
resources deplete more rapidly.
The reality is somewhat more complicated. While
all people consume resources, the proportion of
global resources consumed is largely dependent
on income. The United Nations Development
Ecological limits could pose a threat to business continuity
for consumer goods companies.
Programme (UNDP) reports that the wealthiest
20% of the global population account for roughly
80% of total private expenditure. The poorest
20%, by contrast, account for less than 2%.
Economic development has become a doubleedged sword. Over the next twenty years,
the number of middle-income consumers globally
is expected to increase by 3 billion people,
more than tripling the use of natural resources,
according to the World Resources Institute
(WRI). As more people escape poverty to join the
ranks of the middle class, they too are likely to
use a greater share of the Earth’s limited environmental resources. If population growth is to
become sustainable in the future, it will require
a rapid decoupling of consumption from
environmental depletion.
Fresh water
Approximately 1.2 billion people, nearly one-fifth
of the world’s population, live in water-stressed
areas. If current trends continue, demand
for fresh water will exceed viable resources by
40% by 2030.
Arable land
It takes up to 500 years of unimpeded ecological changes for the Earth to produce just 2.5
centimeters of topsoil. Current rates of erosion
are 100 times greater than the pace at which soil
formation can occur. Already, the World Bank
estimates that up to one-third of the Earth’s arable
land has been lost.
Forests
Forests still cover about 30% of the world’s land
area, but they are disappearing at an alarming
rate. An estimated 17% of the Amazon rainforest
has been destroyed over the past 50 years
alone. In August 2019, as this paper was being
written, Brazil had recorded more than 72,000
forest fires, an 84% increase on the same period
in 2018.
Oceans
90% of global fish stocks are now fully or overfished, gyres covering an estimated 40% of
the Earth’s ocean surfaces are now full of plastic
waste which kills an estimated 100,000 marine
mammals every year; and over the past three
decades, nearly half of all coral reefs have died.
Yet by far the biggest threat to world oceans
is deoxygenation. Ocean dead-zones (areas with
zero oxygen) have quadrupled in size since the
1950s, while the number of very low oxygen sites
has multiplied tenfold.
The WRI foresees resource use more than
tripling in the next twenty years. With signs of
depletion already visible, the business model
of many consumer goods companies could be
under threat.
10 The responsible consumer – Credit Suisse 11
T-shirt
blend of
cotton &
synthetics
Smartphone
Frozen
shrimp
454 gram bag
Plastic
bottle
1,000+
⅕
¾
different
materials
used to produce a single smartphone.
2,700 liters
of water
bathtubs
to make a
single
T-shirt.
equal
to 30
5 to
20 kg
of bycatch is discarded for
every 1 kg of wild shrimp caught.
of the world’s oil is used to
make plastics, equivalent to the
global aviation sector.
Reports of slave labor
in fish peeling sheds in
Thailand.
50,000
homes.
of industrial water
pollution stems
from textile dyeing
and treatment.
Globally, the energy required to produce
and transport plastic water bottles
could fuel
ton
of carbon dioxide is produced
by a 454 gram bag of
frozen shrimp.
of global greenhouse gas emissions
can be traced back to the apparel
industry.
10%
of energy are used
by data centers
each year.
terawatt
hours
1 grams of microplastic –
also found in shrimp –
is consumed by an
average person per
week. Equivalent to the 5 weight of a
14
Recycling rates
are low:
of the materials used to make
clothes end up in landfills or
are burned.
Only 1% of old garments are
turned into new ones.
1995
2015
80 billion
new pieces of
clothing a year.
+400%
+300%
Factories producing semiconductors
for smartphones use as much energy
in a year as
Refining and manufacturing plastic
resin feedstocks is linked to
of all hazardous waste in
landfills is e-waste.
There is a one in three chance that
the shrimp will be discarded, along with
the plastic bag.
6%
1 year 70%
2 million
=




2 0 0
removing
cars from traffic.
Extending the life
of all European
smartphones by
 1.5 million
cars/year.
cancer +
leukemia.
credit card.
Plastic consumption is expected
to quadruple by 2050.
of plastic packaging is collected for recycling.
Only
% 2019
2050
Source
see references
on page 42
Extraction Production Distribution Consumption Disposal
Value chain
12 The responsible consumer – Credit Suisse 13
Characteristics of Millennials
Below the age of 35
Source Credit Suisse
Characteristics
of Millennials
Fun, health, and leisure
	 sense of work /
life balance
	 personal development
over financial benefits
	 conscious but
experience and
fun-oriented lifestyle
Global generation
	 grew up in the world, not in the
neighborhood
	 connected to people everywhere
	 care about peers around the world
Collectively responsible
	 embracing sustainability
	 fighting climate change
	 fear of terrorism, conflicts,
crime, corruption, and
inequality
Post-modern
	 grew up in a world
characterized
by instability
	 general sense
of distrust
Digital natives
	 driving force behind global
digital landscape
	 tech-savviness
	 internet culture
Changing consumer preferences
Arguably the biggest driver of sustainable consumption trends are, for the time being at least,
consumers themselves. Globally, two-thirds of
consumers say they would be willing to pay more
for sustainable goods, according to a survey by
Nielsen.
While interest in sustainability spans generations,
Millennials (defined by Credit Suisse as those
below the age of 35) are proving to be a key
driving force. Despite coming of age in a difficult
economic climate, survey after survey has shown
that Millennials are more willing to pay more for
sustainable goods than previous generations. As
they become an increasingly influential consumer
group, demand for sustainable products is likely
to increase considerably.
This has real world implications. Another study by
Nielsen into the purchases of common fastmoving consumer goods found that products with
sustainability claims generally outperformed
the growth rate of total products in their respective categories.
The costs of unsustainable production models
are not just environmental, however. They also
come at a heavy toll to the global economy.
Biodiversity losses alone could cost USD 14 trillion
per year by 2050 – around 17% of world GDP,
according to a study published in the journal
Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability.
A number of forces are converging that are
making sustainable production and consumption
not only more attractive as a business model
but increasingly inevitable:
Legal & regulatory pressure on the rise
The failure to factor the cost of environmental
externalities into the final price of goods sold is a
classic example of a market failure. And as with
any market failure, the government can play an
important role in rectifying imbalances.
Since the 1970s, the world has witnessed a
38-fold increase in environmental laws, according
to analysis by the United Nations Environmental
Programme. Increasingly, the consumer goods
sector is finding itself under heightened regulatory
scrutiny. To highlight just a few recent examples:
ȷ The European Union’s Circular Economy
Package, which established binding targets for
recycling of municipal waste, was approved
in June 2018. Member states now have 24
months to transpose the directives into national
legislation. Over 127 countries globally have
at least some form of legislation to regulate
plastics, while 27 have advanced plastics
regulations.
ȷ In 2019, the Chinese Ministry of Ecology and
Environment announced that it would expand
its ban on waste imports to include postconsumer plastics such as shampoo or soda
bottles. Other waste-importing countries, such
as Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Indonesia,
have announced similar bans. This has put a
serious strain on waste-exporting countries.
ȷ South Australia has since announced plans
to ban plastic straws, cutlery, and drink stirrers
in an effort to curb single-use plastic use.
ȷ The United States is considering a bill that
would ban dozens of toxic substances from
consumer cosmetics – including asbestos, lead,
formaldehyde, toluene, triclosan, PFAS
chemicals, and certain parabens and phthalates.
Many of these substances have already
been banned in Europe and other countries
around the world (see page 33 for health
effects of common cosmetics ingredients).
The increasing number of environmental
regulations around the world has also given rise
to a new class of litigation. Globally, close to
1,000 climate change-related cases have been
filed to date, according to White & Case.
While the damages accrued to private companies
have so far been limited, legal experts are highlighting parallels between the current onslaught
of environmental litigation and tobacco claims
of previous decades.
Taken together, it is reasonable to assume that
the rise of regulations, legislation, and litigation
will make the cost of unsustainable production
increasingly expensive going forward.
Growing regulatory pressure, investor interest, and
consumer demand make the industry ripe for disruption.
Chapter 2
Forces of change
14 The responsible consumer – Credit Suisse 15
Growth in ESG activism
Number of environmental, social and governance (ESG) related campaigns 2007– 2019 (1H)
2007
2011
2015
2008
2012
2016
2009
2013
2017
2010
2014
2018
2019 1H
5
20 40 60 80
17
38
3
32
55
14
18
78
11
24
63
59
Source Activist Insight
Interview: A view from Asia
In your opinion, are consumers
in Asia less or more willing to
shop sustainably?
We tend to assume that middleclass consumers in North
America and Europe are more likely
to shop sustainably, but these
assumptions don’t necessarily hold
true. Studies have found that
consumers in Asia are actually more
willing to pay more for goods
and services from socially responsible companies (64%) than
consumers in Europe and North
America (42% and 40%, respectively). As well, China and India
account for a large share of the
world’s Millennials – and we know
they are more likely to shop
sustainably.
How are governments in
Asia shaping the responsible
consumer transition?
Consumer interest is growing,
but governments are still leading
the transition in Asia. India’s
government announced this year
that it would spend close to
USD 1.5 billion to subsidize hybrid
and electric cars and buses,
aiming to see electric vehicles (EVs)
make up 15% of domestic
sales in five years. There are now
one million electric rickshaws
in the country, transporting around
60 million people a day.
Governments are often inspired to
act in the face of public pressure.
China’s recent Five-Year Plan, for
example, born in part from growing public awareness concerning
the harmful effects of air pollution,
which is responsible for more than
one million premature deaths a
year in China.
How are companies
responding?
A large tech player in China now
incentivizes responsible consumption by linking the payment
of green products or services
with green credits that its 500 million
users are using to plant trees in
China. More than 100 million such
trees have been planted so far.
This is more than Corporate Social
Responsibility, it is business
recognizing that consumers want to
do good with their purchases,
in a way that can be lucrative for
companies.
Impact Advisory & Finance Department APAC, Credit Suisse
Investors take note
As part owners, investors are important stakeholders in a company. They drive the stock price
upon which management incentives are often
based and determine the price and ease of access
to capital.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the proliferation of
policy interventions and consumer interest in this
space, investors are expressing a greater interest in sustainable investing. Since 2012, reported
assets under management in sustainable
investment strategies have risen from USD 11
trillion to USD 31 trillion in 2018, as stated
by the Global Sustainable Investment Alliance.
Likewise, the Global Impact Investing Network
estimates that impact investments, a subset
of sustainable investments that focus on investing
in companies and projects with measurable
environmental and social benefits, has grown
from USD 8 billion to USD 502 billion.
Shareholder activism, in particular, can play an
important role in pushing companies to adopt
more sustainable policies. According to Activist
Insight, the number of shareholder campaigns
related to environmental, social and governance
themes has increased twenty-fold since 2007.
In 2019, for example, a coalition of investors worth
a combined USD 6.5 trillion challenged fast
food companies to put robust targets in place to
limit negative environmental impacts of meat
and dairy supply chains. Likewise, another coalition
of investors helped convince one of the largest
commodity companies in the world to cap coal production at current levels and to prioritize investments in green technologies.
If successful, shareholder activism can also have
a positive effect on financial returns. A 2012
study by Dimson et al. found that successful shareholder engagement on environmental, social
and governance issues resulted in 4.4% higher
returns, on average.
Governments are often
inspired to act in the face
of public pressure.
16 The responsible consumer – Credit Suisse 17
Millennial exposure boosts stocks
Companies catering to Millennial tastes outperform
Indxx Millennials Thematic Index S&P 500 Source Bloomberg
180
160
140
120
100
2016 2017 2018 2019
of the 78 million metric tons of
plastic packaging is recycled.
Room for improvement
Recycled plastic packaging
14%
From cosmetics to fashion, most
consumer sectors covered in
this report rely on packaging. Of the
78 million metric tons of plastic
packaging produced each year, a
mere 14% is recycled, according
to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation.
An estimated 8 million metric tons
end up in the world’s oceans every
year. Without urgent action, the
WWF estimates that the volume of
plastic waste could double by 2030.
Many companies are responding
to the global plastics crisis by
promising to increase their share of
packaging from recycled plastics.
Yet while efforts to improve recycling
would ease some of the problems
associated with plastic pollution, it is
no panacea. Recycling still requires
large amounts of energy, water, and
fossil fuels.
Bioplastics may be another solution
to the global plastics crisis.
Examples include plastics derived
from wood pulp, crustacean
shells, corn, or sugarcane rather than
petroleum. With an estimated 8%
of the world’s oil used to make
plastics (more than the oil consumption of the global aviation sector),
advocates argue that they could
help to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions from fossil fuels. However, not all bioplastics are created
equal, and critics have pointed out
that, if improperly discarded,
bioplastics could increase greenhouse gas emissions and worsen
the global plastics crisis. This is
because most bioplastics are not in
fact biodegradable. Instead, they
may require high temperature industrial composting facilities to be
broken down, infrastructure which
most cities lack. In landfills, bioplastics release methane, a greenhouse
gas 23 times more potent than
carbon dioxide. By contrast,
compostable plastics, a subset of
bioplastics, largely degrade within
180 days inside industrial compost
facilities.
Globally, the number of government
policies directed at tackling the
use of single-use plastics has been
on a steep incline – rising from
two at the turn of the millennium
to 202 in 2018, according to
Credit Suisse analysis. With growing
pressure from consumers and
policy makers, companies (and their
investors) are racing to find the
next alternative. One large chemical
company is turning plastics back
into oil, for example, while a US pizza
company found its materials
business quickly surpassed revenues
from food after it acquired a
compostable packaging start-up.
The best solution to the global
plastics crisis could be to reduce
the need for plastic packaging
altogether. In the United States, for
example, one company is using
a high definition laser to remove
pigment from the outer layer of
fruit and vegetable peels, leaving a
permanent mark in lieu of plastic
labels. Another large multinational is
introducing highly concentrated
refills for home cleaning products,
eliminating the need to re-purchase
trigger spray bottles with every
use. And retailers around the world
are implementing bans on singleuse plastic bags. Consumers can also
play an important role in becoming less dependent on plastic
packaging. From Brooklyn to
Kuala Lumpur, zero waste shops
are gaining momentum. These
shops cater to a growing consumer
movement that seeks to do away
with packaging. Instead, shoppers
bring their own containers to
stock up on consumer staples like
flour, raisins, oil, or shampoo.
With growing demand from consumers and
investors, increasing pressure from regulators and
proliferating signs of resource depletion, the
consumer goods economy is ripe for disruption.
Much research has focused on the relationship
between environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors and financial performance.
Unlocking the opportunities associated with
responsible consumption, however, means looking
beyond standard measures of corporate responsibility (such as employee wages or gender
equality) to real business-model transformation.
For investors, this represents a clear opportunity. In 2019, products marketed as sustainable experienced market growth 5.6 times
faster than non-sustainable alternatives, according
to a study by New York University’s Center for
Sustainable Business. Likewise, companies
catering to Millennial tastes, including demand
for sustainable products, have generally
outperformed their peers since 2016.
The market is in the early stages of transition,
driven by both push factors (resource depletion
and regulatory pressure) and pull factors
(growing consumer demand). This represents a
unique opportunity for investors. Companies
that are quick to adapt to this new reality are likely
to benefit from an early mover advantage. A
recent study by Accenture shows that the transition
to a more circular economy – one that minimizes waste and makes the most use of existing
resource – could represent a USD 4.5 trillion
per annum opportunity by 2030.
Chapter 3
The opportunity
The transition to a more sustainable consumer economy
represents an enormous opportunity for investors.
A note on plastics
18 The responsible consumer – Credit Suisse 19
Fashion accounts for
more than 20% of global
industrial water pollution.
Consumer appetite for the latest trends alongside
rising global income levels have led to a rapid
increase in clothing sales. The USD 1.7 trillion
garment industry is the world’s third biggest
manufacturing industry after the automotive and
the technology industries. It is also of vital
importance to the economies of many developing
countries.
Rising consumption may create growth in jobs in
developing countries, but it also saddles these
countries with the brunt of the environmental and
social burden. Despite efforts to curb sweatshop conditions in the industry, a recent Oxfam
report found that workers in Bangladesh and
Vietnam, which supply a significant share of the
world’s clothes, did not earn enough to afford basic
essentials like housing, healthcare, or education.
In addition to the social costs, rising consumption
of apparel also comes at enormous environmental
costs. The chemicals used to bleach, treat, and
brighten the world’s clothes have been linked to
tuberculosis, birth defects, and reproductive
problems. According to the United Nations
Economic Commission for Europe, fashion accounts for more than 20% of global industrial
water pollution. It is also one of the biggest contributors to climate change, consuming more
energy than the international aviation and shipping
industries combined.
The tragedy is that these burdens on human
health and the environment are almost completely
unnecessary. Nearly three-quarters of the
materials used to make clothes end up in landfills
or are burned at the end of their life, while
just 1% of old garments are turned into new ones.
With global apparel consumption projected to
increase by 63% by 2030, according to a recent
report by the Global Fashion Agenda and Boston
Consulting Group, significant changes will need
to be made in how clothing is produced and
consumed. There are signs that change may be
underway. At the heart of the industry’s woes
is “fast-fashion,” a business model built around
producing clothes as cheaply and rapidly as
possible. But growing awareness concerning the
environmental and human consequences of
fast fashion is leading to a change in consumer
expectations. From “more for less” to “less is
more,” consumers are starting to think more consciously about their purchasing decisions.
According to a 2018 study by GlobalData, 72%
of consumers polled prefer to buy from environmentally friendly fashion brands, a fifteen
point increase from 2013.
As sustainability becomes a crucial buying factor
for mass-market consumers, the opportunity
for investors could be significant:
ȷ Regenerative materials
Crops grown to supply the growing apparel
industry, including cotton, linen, hemp, and
indigo, are some of the most polluting in
the world. Cotton is a case in point: One tenth
of all agricultural chemicals and 25% of
pesticides are used to produce the world’s
(non-organic) cotton, which comprises less
than 3% of the world’s agricultural land by area.
Fashion brands are looking to sustainable
agriculture to curb these negative effects. One
promising example is regenerative agriculture,
a type of organic agriculture that seeks to
restore degraded land through practices such
as no tillage, crop rotation, or on-farm fertility.
Research from the Rodale Institute indicates
that the resulting carbon sequestration could
help to reverse the effects of climate change.
While regenerative farming has gained most
significant traction in the natural food space (see
page 26), fashion brands are making serious
inroads as well. At the time of writing, five textile
and fashion brands were partnering on a
Regenerative Organic Certification standard to
ease the process of identifying suppliers.
If rolled out on a global scale, efforts like these
could significantly improve the human, soil,
and climate impacts of clothing supply chains
around the world.
Fashion
Chapter 3: The opportunity
20 The responsible consumer – Credit Suisse 21
Secondhand market will reach USD 51 billion in 5 years
Size of the United States secondhand apparel market in billion USD
Resale Thrift & donations Total secondhand apparel market Source ThredUp 2019 Resale Report
2012
20
30
50
40
2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
11 13 16 19 22
5
7
24
51
10
13
17
23
12 14 17 21 24 26 28
The secondhand clothing
market is expected
to double in size over the
next five years.
ȷ Alternative fabrics
While organic materials such as cotton, linen,
hemp, or viscose have been linked to myriad
environmental and social challenges, synthetic
materials like nylon or polyester have fared
little better. These materials are often treated
with thousands of harmful chemicals, making
them even more toxic than their non-synthetic
counterparts. The manufacture of nylon, for
example, creates nitrous oxide, a greenhouse
gas 310 times more potent than carbon dioxide.
High-end fashion and sportswear brands have
started to take an interest in eco-friendly
alternative fabrics. Examples include liquid silks
that use biogenetic engineering to replicate
the DNA of spider silk, yarn from coffee grounds
and recycled plastic, vegan leather made
from mushrooms, or technologies geared to
changing the molecular composition of
polyester – making it more digestible for
microbes to consume.
ȷ Radical transparency
Reports of environmental harm, sweatshop
conditions, as well as child labor have eroded
consumer trust in the mainstream fashion
industry. With social media making it increasingly difficult for brands to control their
message across borders, today’s consumers
are more likely than ever to research the
brands they buy. A study by McKinsey shows
that Millennials are at the forefront of this
movement, with 52% saying that they always
research brands for background information before making a purchasing decision,
compared to 45% of Gen Z and 41% of
Baby Boomer consumers.
In an effort to regain trust, several fashion
brands are introducing “radical transparency”
across their supply chains. Innovations
include Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID)
tags in the form of threads that can be
integrated in textiles to track materials across
the entire lifecycle, using blockchain to
track clothing from raw material to consumer,
or genotyping to trace the source of
cotton fibers to specific regions.
For fashion brands, innovations like these
are making it easier to monitor potential
violations of environmental and social norms
across their supply chain. For consumers,
radical transparency means that the public
can hold companies to account for their
claims – mitigating the risk of greenwashing
and accelerating the sustainable transition.
ȷ Resale, refurbishment & rental
In the UK alone, consumers have unworn
clothes worth an estimated GBP 30 billion lying
in their closets, as stated by WRAP. Secondhand markets extend the lifecycle of garments,
reducing the total volume of clothing that
eventually finds its way to a landfill. According
to research by ThredUP (in conjunction with
GlobalData), the secondhand clothing market
is expected to double in size over the next
five years and could reach a staggering USD
51 billion in the United States alone by 2024.
Online resale companies are helping
these brick-and-mortar shops find a wider
audience online.
Other examples of secondhand business models
include clothing refurbishment and rental
models – the latter of which caters to the human
desire for “new things” without the associated waste. More than a quarter of consumers
expect to increase their spending in fashion
rental over the next five years, four times the
number of consumers who say they will
increase their spending in fast fashion.
Whether resale, refurbishment, or rental, the
rapid rise in secondhand business models has
come at a direct cost to established brands.
ȷ Slow fashion
Growing consumer awareness concerning
the environmental and human consequences
of fast fashion has led to a new movement
in fashion – slow fashion. The antithesis to fast
fashion, slow fashion’s emphasis is on
“buying less, but better.”
Companies are catering to this new movement by rejecting mass production, instead
emphasizing “fewer, better things.” In 2011,
for example, one outdoor sportswear brand
published a provocative marketing campaign
with the slogan “Don’t buy this jacket,” listing
in detail the adverse environmental impacts
associated with producing the jacket in question.
Within a year, sales increased by nearly
one-third. In an interview with the New York
Times, the company’s CEO explained that
the brand’s value proposition, putting “value in
vogue,” had struck a chord with a small
but growing cohort of sustainably-conscious
consumers.
22 The responsible consumer – Credit Suisse 23
The e-waste trash stream could fill
up more than a million 18-wheel trucks
stretching from New York to Bangkok
and back.
Capturing this opportunity will mean reconsidering traditional business models. While the
industry has been slow to respond, there are
signs of change:
ȷ Dematerialization
Planned obsolescence refers to a strategy in
which products are designed to artificially
limit the number of years they will be used for.
From the perspective of producers, planned
obsolescence makes a lot of sense. The quicker
a device needs replacement, the sooner a
consumer will buy a new one, the higher the
revenues incurred from sales.
One solution could be to move away from
business models based on the sale of physical
products to ones based on a service – a
process known as dematerialization. As a paper
by WEF points out, dematerialization is
already happening in many parts of the economy.
In the Netherlands, for example, one company has started selling lighting as a service.
Similarly, several companies are rolling out
smartphone leasing programs around the world.
Rather than shorten the lifetime of products,
dematerialization incentivizes producers to
prolong the life of the devices they sell – creating
a synergy between corporate and environmental interests.
ȷ Modular devices
When a single component in an electronic
device wears out, it is often cheaper and easier
to replace the entire device than to repair
the single component. As a result, the lifetime
of the device is limited to the component
with the shortest lifespan.
One solution could be modular devices in which
individual components can be taken apart
and replaced when needed. A Dutch smartphone producer, for example, has carved
out a niche for itself with pieces that can be
inexpensively bought and replaced. There
are signs that the model may be influencing
larger market players, several of which have
experimented with modular phones, with one
market leader having published at least two
new modular device patents in 2019.
ȷ Reuse & refurbish
Like in fashion, secondhand markets for
electronics promise to keep electronics device
in use longer. One British telecom company,
for example, has announced a recycling program
whereby the company buys old smartphones
from customers and refurbishes them for resale,
mostly in mainland Europe. According to the
company, the program has reduced the equivalent of 10,000 tons of carbon emissions
and saved over 26 million liters of water in just
four years.
Similarly, as pointed out in a report by the
Ellen MacArthur Foundation, the “cascading
of components” – the process of reusing
functional components from higher-performance
applications to lower ones – could help
avoid negative environmental impacts and keep
components in use for longer. While a lack
of standardization has largely hindered the widespread adoption of this practice, some
companies have started to experiment with
cascading models.
ȷ Mining for electronic waste
As already noted, e-waste contains a treasure
trove of high-value and increasingly scarce
raw materials. The challenge, of course, is to
extract these materials: A single smartphone
may contain well over 1,000 different substances.
Yet difficult does not mean impossible, and
new technologies are making the extraction of
these resources increasingly viable. According
to the WEF, one recycler in China claims to recover more cobalt from recycled e-waste than
the country mines in a year. As pressure mounts
on producers of electronic devices to reduce
environmental externalities, it is fair to assume
that the market for recovered materials will grow.
Compared to the other industries in this report,
the electronics industry has been slow to
respond to consumer demand for more sustainable products. At least in part, this may be
attributable to the high barriers to entry in the
consumer electronics space, which make
it difficult for incumbents to compete with larger
market players. Ironically, an industry so bent
on disruption is finding disruption incredibly difficult
to achieve. Nevertheless, with consumer
demand on the rise, the opportunity for solutions
that fill this market gap could be significant.
Consumer electronics
By 2025, the number of electronic devices
connected to the internet is expected to surpass
the number of people on the planet by a
multiple of ten. The economic potential of these
devices is staggering: In 2017, the global
consumer electronics market was valued at an
estimated USD 1.1 trillion. By 2024, Zion
market research predicts that this number might
exceed USD 1.7 trillion.
Unfortunately, the e-waste trash stream –
from fridges and computers to smartphones and
hair dryers – is expanding at the fastest rate,
nearly doubling in volume over the past nine years.
The yearly accumulation in 2018 alone was
49.8 million tons, according to the Partnership for
Action on Computing Equipment (PACE). As
pointed out in an article in the New York Times,
this would be equivalent to more than a million
18-wheel trucks stretching from New York
to Bangkok and back. The lion’s share of this
waste ends up in landfills or is improperly
discarded in the informal economy.
Depending on how e-waste is handled, however,
it could represent either an environmental burden
or economic resource. Many of the same
materials that make electronic devices so toxic
and difficult to recycle are also increasingly
scarce and economically valuable. For example,
a recent study by the University of Plymouth
found that a ton of smartphones contains 100
times more gold than a ton of gold ore. The
World Economic Forum (WEF) states that the
material value of our electronic waste could
be an astounding USD 62.5 billion annually,
more than the GDP of most countries.
Chapter 3: The opportunity
24 The responsible consumer – Credit Suisse 25
+20%
Smart farming
Reducing resources
Improving
yields
Conventional farming Smart farming
There could also be a significant opportunity for
investors. Consumer interest in sustainable
food is on the rise. In a 2017 study conducted
by Berkley, food products with sustainability
and traceability claims exceeded all other new
product themes, including portion control,
flavor, nutritional value, or ease of preparation. In
another recent survey, commissioned by the
European Union Commission Directorate General
for Trade, 98% of food retailers in Europe
reported that sales of sustainable products had
increased over the past five years, growing
by close to 20% overall.
With over half of consumers saying they would
prefer to buy foods that are produced in an
environmentally sustainable way, the opportunity
for investors could be meaningful.
Tech-savvy farms
Water scarcity, climate change, population
growth, and less arable land available per capita:
the future of food will depend on agriculture’s
ability to do more with less. From drones to satellite
images and indoor farms, farmers are increasingly making use of technological innovations to
do just that.
Smart farming, a diverse set of tools and
practices that use information communication
technologies in agriculture, can measure crop
and soil characteristics of fields to within several
inches of accuracy, enabling farmers to better
gauge exactly how and when different parts of a
field need to be watered, fertilized, and harvested. This has the potential to drastically reduce
resource use while improving yields by as
much as 20%.
Other companies are focusing on applying
engineering principles to biology, an emerging field
known as synthetic biology. In agriculture,
synthetic biology promises to redesign biological
systems that are better adapted to a rapidly
changing climate. Proponents claim that welldesigned synthetic systems could even reverse
some of the harmful effects of agriculture. One
US-based startup, for example, produces
microbes that can be directly applied to crops in
order to produce nitrogen, eliminating the need
for synthetic fertilizers altogether. Another company
uses wastewater from breweries and beverage
plants to cultivate bacteria that it then turns into
protein meal for fish feed, eliminating the need
to catch wild fish to feed farmed fish (one of the
biggest critiques of aquaculture).
Food & beverage
Agriculture accounts for over 70% of fresh
water usage and 80% of tropical deforestation,
according to the United Nations Food and
Agriculture Organization (UN FAO). It is also one
of the biggest contributors to ocean deoxygenation, soil degradation, and climate change. With
the WRI estimating that agricultural output
will need to increase by over 50% over coming
decades to feed a growing population, it is
becoming increasingly clear that the world will
need to rethink what and how it eats.
The environmental and social payoff for doing
so could be significant. Of the world’s poor, 70%
are smallholder farmers, most of them women,
according to the World Bank. Transitioning to a
more sustainable food system could ensure a
more equitable distribution of profits – contributing
to other sustainable development goals such
as ending world hunger, reducing poverty, and
improving gender equality. Some scientists
believe that sustainable agricultural practices such
as regenerative agriculture could reverse global
warming completely while replenishing the soil of
nutrients, bringing back old species of plants
and animals, and enhancing the ability of soils to
store water – thereby reducing agriculture’s
heavy water footprint and making crops more
resilient to drought and heavy rainfall. Likewise, sustainable fishing practices could replenish
depleted oceans – allowing fish stocks and
other marine species to recover while improving
the lives of the 950 million or so people who
rely on the seas for their livelihoods.
Agricultural output will need to increase
by over 50% over coming decades to
feed a growing population.
Chapter 3: The opportunity
26 The responsible consumer – Credit Suisse 27 ⅓
of the food is lost or wasted annually.
This is costing USD 2.6 trillion per year.
What a waste
Annual food loss
A sustainable diet
The planetary health plate
Source EAT Foundation
Whole
grains Fruit &
vegetables
Starchy
vegetables
Dairy
foods
Animal-sourced
protein
Unsaturated
plant oils
Plant-sourced
protein
Added
sugar
In 2019, the EAT Lancet Commission quantitatively described a universal healthy reference diet, addressing the need to
feed a growing global population while also defining sustainable food systems that will minimize damage to our planet.
While a small amount of meat is still on the plate, the Commission's finding showed that developed countries would need
to cut meat consumption by 80% and developing countries by 50%.
ȷ Urban & indoor
With over three-quarters of the world’s popula
-
tion expected to live in cities by the middle
of the century, some food and beverage companies are focusing their efforts closer to
home. Indoor & urban farms have been touted
as a potential solution to feeding a growing
population in the future. Alternative grow systems
like hydroponic, aeroponic, or vertical farms
can grow crops without soil, sunlight, or large
amounts of water – reducing agriculture
inputs such as water by 70% or more.
If fully implemented in cities around the world,
urban agriculture could produce as much
as 180 million metric tons of food each year,
according to a recent study published in
the journal Earth’s Future. This would amount
to approximately 10% of the global output
of legumes, root vegetables and vegetable
crops. Taken together, the additional eco
-
systems services associated with urban agriculture, which include reducing the urban
heat-island effect, avoiding storm water runoff,
nitrogen fixation, and pest control, could be
worth as much as USD 160 billion per year.
ȷ Regenerative & organic
Concerns about the adverse ecological and
health effects of pesticides have led to a
growing demand for organic foods. Organo
-
phosphorus – a compound commonly used
in pesticides – has been linked to a number of
developmental problems, including autism and
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
There is also a growing consensus that the
pesticides, fertilizers, and other chemicals used
in industrial agriculture are wreaking ecological
havoc on oceans, wildlife, and climate. With
public opinion galvanized, sales of organic food
have been on the rise. According to Ecovia
Intelligence, worldwide organic food and drink
sales surpassed USD 100 billion for the first
time in 2018, a 6% increase from 2017.
Some critics argue that, since organic
agriculture requires more land for the same
yield, organic foods may not be a viable
solution to feed a growing planet. Regenerative
farming could provide an alternative. The
term refers to a system of farming practices
(usually organic) that aim to capture carbon
in the soil while increasing biodiversity, improving
watersheds and enhancing ecosystem services. Unlike traditional sustainable farming
practices that seek to reduce harm, rege
-
nerative agriculture promises to actively reverse
damage to soil, water and air quality. With
one-third of land once used for farming now
abandoned, regenerative farming could
prove key to reducing agricultural expansion in
the future, according to a study by the
University of Sheffield.
ȷ Minimizing food losses
Roughly one-third of the food produced for
human consumption is lost or wasted annually.
This is a massive problem, with the UN FAO
estimating that costs to the global could be as
high as USD 2.6 trillion per year.
A report by the Boston Consulting Group
showed that reducing food loss through improvements in supply chain infrastructure and
efficiency alone could save an estimated USD
270 billion per year. Examples include an
invisible coating from plant-derived materials
that can help postpone spoilage of fresh
produce or software that can track where waste
occurs. In one company, using waste-tracking
software helped to reduce the amount of
waste headed for landfills by as much as 65%
within the first year.
Other innovations focus on reducing food losses
in developing countries, where approximately
half of all food losses occur. While food waste
in developing and industrialized countries is
equally high, most of the food loss in developing
countries occurs at post-harvest and processing
levels. Some of the most basic fixes to food
waste could therefore be at the bottom end of
the food supply chain: metal grain silos have
helped against fungus ruining grain stocks while
replacing sacks with crates could reduce
tomato spoilage. One public-private partnership
in Kenya, for example, was able to more
than double the amount of food purchased from
smallholder farmers through “pay as you
store” solar-powered refrigeration units.
Finally, some companies are focusing on
innovative ways to upcycle food waste into food
and other products. Examples include con
-
verting used coffee grains into logs and biomass
pallets or upcycling food waste into new food
products (such as snacks made from chicken
breast trims, vegetable puree, and other
leftover food products). As more and more initiatives like these emerge, what was once
dismissed as waste could eventually become a
valuable asset in its own right.
ȷ Plant-based diets
According to a new study led by researchers
at the University of Oxford, if all humans were
to convert to a plant-based diet, global
farmland use could be reduced by more than
75% – an area equivalent to the US, China,
the European Union, and Australia combined.
Doing so, the researchers concluded, would
significantly curb deforestation, biodiversity
losses, and mass extinctions. Livestock uses
83% of the world’s farmland, but provides just
18% of the world’s calories. It is also responsible
for 18% of global greenhouse gas emissions,
more than all forms of transport put together.
In addition, research by the American Heart
Association has shown that a plant-forward diet
(one in which at least 70% of meals do not
contain meat) could lead to a significant reduction
in deaths from heart attacks, stroke, and
other cardiovascular diseases.
Considering the environmental and health
benefits, it is perhaps not surprising that consumers (in high-income countries at least)
are expressing a greater interest in diversifying
their diets, reducing meat consumption and
eating more plant-based foods. According to
research by Mintel, sales of meat-free foods
in the UK alone increased by 22% between
2013 and 2018. This growth is expected to
continue, with the value-sales of the meat-free
market forecast to increase by another 44%
by 2023.
28 The responsible consumer – Credit Suisse 29
Mobility
As pointed out in an article by Elizabeth Kolbert
in the New Yorker, the most popular mode
of transport in most western cities in the mideighteen hundreds was the horse-drawn
streetcar. By 1880, there were more than 150,000
horses living in New York City alone, each
producing an average of 22 pounds of manure
per day. Urban planners warned that, without
urgent action, cities across the world would soon
be “inundated with poop.” Then, around the
turn of the 19th century, almost without comment
or deliberation, the crisis passed. By 1912,
automobiles outnumbered horses in New York.
Today, the world’s transportation systems are
facing a new challenge: climate change. From
airplanes to automobiles, what fuels global
transportation is, for the most part, fossil fuels.
The global transportation sector is responsible
for an estimated 14% of global greenhouse gas
emissions. Without aggressive and sustained
policies, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change estimates that these
emissions will double by 2050.
Added to this challenge is traffic congestion. The
urban population has increased fourfold over
the past 50 years. At the same time, the stock of
passenger cars and motorbikes has increased
sixfold. Nine out of ten people now live in places
where air quality has fallen below healthy limits,
according to the World Health Organization. As
many as seven million people die each year as
a result. Without urgent changes in how and what
the world moves, global cities will, quite literally,
become suffocating places to live.
Some critics have questioned
whether EVs are more sustainable
than conventional combustion
engine-powered cars. Manufacturing
EVs requires more aluminum (in
order to offset the additional weight
of batteries), more copper (to
conduct electricity) and more lithium
and rare earth minerals than
non-electric alternatives. This means
that more greenhouse gases are
emitted during the production of EVs
than of conventional (non-electric)
alternatives.
To answer this question, the
International Reference Center for
the Life Cycle of Products, Processes and Services (CIRAIG) conducted an environmental life cycle
assessment of EVs’ inputs, outputs,
and environmental impacts –
from material extraction to end of life.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the study
found that an EV is only as clean as
the power grid used to recharge it.
Yet even with the cleanest grid mix,
the distance an EV is driven relative
to a conventional vehicle ultimately
determines whether it is
environmentally worth making the
switch. In Quebec, for example,
which derives 99% of its power
from renewable energy sources, a
car would need to drive more than
50,000 kilometers before it
would outdo a traditional vehicle, at
least in terms of greenhouse
gases. By contrast, in Germany,
where fossil fuels still comprise
a large portion of the country’s total
energy mix, a car would need to
drive at least 150,000 kilometers
before it would become environmentally viable to make the leap.
Contrarian corner: Are electric vehicles sustainable?
The global transportation
sector is responsible
for an estimated 14% of
global greenhouse gas
emissions.
Chapter 3: The opportunity
30 The responsible consumer – Credit Suisse 31
Time to shift
Renewable energy as a share of total power generation capacity
Source IRENA, Credit Suisse
80%
40%
50%
60%
30%
20%
70%
10%
2010 2030
Germany UK France Italy G20 US China UAE S.Arabia Russia
As with the horse-drawn streetcar just one
century ago, however, technological innovations
are disrupting the future of mobility. From
electrification to the internet of things (IoT),
numerous trends are converging to help ease
the transition toward cleaner transportation:
ȷ Electrification
Think about the future of mobility and one
word will likely come to mind: electric.
From fully battery powered to hybrid vehicles,
electric mobility is expanding at a rapid pace.
In 2018, according to the International Energy
Agency, there were more than five million
electric cars on the road, up from just two million
the previous year. In terms of sales, the
number of new electric cars sold across the
world nearly doubled.
Electrification is driven by a combination of
policy initiatives and technological innovations. In
an effort to curb pollution, China introduced
subsidies for EVs in 2010 and made it more
difficult for consumers to get license plates
for combustion engines. It is now the world’s
largest market for electric cars. Similarly, in
2018, the European Union approved several
significant policy instruments to support
growth in the EV market, including new fuel
economy standards, incentives to support
the rollout of EV chargers, and public procurement of electric buses. Major European
cities like Paris, Madrid, Oslo, Brussels, Berlin,
Hamburg, and Stuttgart plan to ban all
vehicles except electric ones from their city
centers by 2030.
Another key driver of growth in the EV market is
innovation. Since 2010, the average cost of
lithium-ion batteries has fallen by 85% and is
expected to drop even further in the coming
decade, driven by scale, improvements in
battery chemistry, and better battery management systems. By 2022, Bloomberg New
Energy Finance estimates that the cost of
electric cars will fall below that of internal
combustion vehicles.
ȷ Shared mobility
From Shanghai to New York, consumers around
the world are giving up their personal vehicles
in favor of shared mobility. According to a
2016 McKinsey report, new business models
based on shared mobility could lead to an additional USD 1.5 trillion in market value by 2030.
This is not just good news for investors in shared
mobility. Shared mobility could also bring
significant environmental gains. By reducing
the amount of time a vehicle sits idle in
parking, car sharing promises to significantly
reduce the total number of new cars purchased – thus curbing environmental challenges
associated with the production and disposal
of vehicles. In addition, mobility sharing can serve
as a supplement to public transportation,
allowing commuters to fill gaps in the public
transportation network where needed.
Micromobility in particular could increase access
to public transportation, reduce the number
of cars on the road and lower the environmental
footprint of personal commuting. The term
refers to a diverse set of shared modes of transportation provided by very light vehicles such
as electric scooters, skateboards, or bicycles.
According to analysis by Wired Magazine,
one-kilowatt hour of energy could get a
gasoline-powered car to travel 0.8 miles,
an electric car 4.1 miles and an electric scooter
82.8 miles. For the price of a single Tesla
Model 3 (USD 53,000), a city could purchase
more than 100 high quality electric scooters –
making it a more affordable option for some
fast growing mega-cities in emerging markets.
ȷ Infrastructure
Finally, the transition toward sustainable mobility
will require significant investments in infrastructure. If all cars were to become electric,
demand for electricity would rise by an
estimated 20% to 30%. Unless this new energy
supply is renewable, EVs could increase,
not reduce, traffic-related greenhouse gas
emissions.
Similarly, none of the personal mobility
solutions mentioned in this paper can replace
the need for better public transportation.
While innovations like EVs and shared mobility
can ease some of the burden, public transportation, particularly if it is electrically powered,
remains the most sustainable method of
transportation in urban and peri-urban areas. 
32 The responsible consumer – Credit Suisse 33
4,000 tons
Source see references on page 42
Household & personal products
For decades, the household and personal care
products industries have experienced relatively
undisrupted growth. The mantras that bacteria is
bad and that beauty is achievable through a
myriad of products has been one of marketing’s
great success stories. The average US household now spends circa USD 600 – 800 annually
on household cleaning products.
The irony is that in our quest to get clean, our
environment has become ever dirtier. The
chemicals used in household cleaning and personal
care products leech into waterways, contaminate the air with micro-particles, and are toxic
to biodiversity and wildlife, potentially entering
the food chain. One recent study found that prolonged exposure to cleaning sprays had a
commensurate impact on lung health as smoking
a packet of cigarettes every day.
Natural & organic beauty
Cruelty-free /vegan
Green cleaning
Chapter 3: The opportunity
Expected cosmetics market growth:
6%
annually
(2019–2023)
Out of 2,000
cleaning products
Examples of controversial ingredients
in personal care products:
contain ingredients known to irritate the lungs.
53%
 Aluminum
 Coal tar
 Formaldehydereleasing preservatives
Natural cosmetics market:
Expected growth (in USD)
Green cleaning products market:
Expected growth (in USD)
US vegan population:
2019
36 billion
2017
17.9 billion
2027
54 billion
2024
27.8 billion

of sunscreen is washed into
the oceans each year.*
 1%
6%
2014 2017

*Linked to serious environmental issues like green algal
blooms, birth defects in wildlife, and coral bleaching. 
34 The responsible consumer – Credit Suisse 35
Interest in sustainable consumption is on the rise. Is it a
passing fad or here to stay?
Today, the global economy faces
challenges that urgently require
sustainable solutions. Pressure
points are everywhere, be it
excessive food waste and plastic
use or rising greenhouse gas
emissions. These issues are pushing
regulators, businesses, and consumers to change how we behave.
These three actors are deeply
interconnected.
Developments in one area often
support or create new initiatives in
another, and are empowering
change across sectors and value
chains. This is not a fad. It is a
structural shift that we believe will
fuel an increasingly rapid transition
to a more sustainable system.
Do you see this as a threat or an
opportunity for business?
Transition on this scale naturally
creates a risk of disruption for companies that are unwilling or unable
to change. However, the transition
will generate large-scale opportunities and profitable growth for
companies that genuinely embed
sustainability into their DNA
and focus on challenges that are
particularly material to their sector.
If we look at the food industry, for
example, projections show that
a USD 250 billion opportunity exists
within precision farming, including
real-time crop monitoring, on-demand
delivery of irrigation and nutrients,
automated vehicle steering, and
custom seeding to improve yields.
Supply chain optimization is an
obvious and essential first goal and
improving expiration dates,
water usage, and food distribution
will create a significant investment needs that we are already
highlighting to investors.
Do you believe that financial
institutions have a role to play in
driving sustainability forward?
We believe sustainability will be the
most significant driver of returns and
should thus be central to any
investment decision today. As the key
drivers of change continue to
gather pace, sustainable investment
opportunities offer the potential
for above-average growth and returns. At Lombard Odier, we
believe it is essential to differentiate
between the winners and losers in
this transition to a more sustainable
economy. Winners will be companies with solid financials, healthy
business practices, and a business
model designed to thrive over
the long-term.
Within sustainable consumption,
we see four key investable themes:
Sustainable Food, Sustainable
Supply Chains, Sustainable Lifestyle,
and Sustainable Urban Systems.
Importantly, we believe that the transition to a more sustainable consumer economy is a trans-sectoral
challenge that will create opportunities beyond traditional consumer
sectors.
Financial institutions, including
Lombard Odier and Credit Suisse,
are also agents for change. As
more investors recognize the underlying financial risks associated
with sustainability-related challenges,
as well as the scale of opportunity
presented by the transition to a
sustainable economic model, they
are increasingly holding companies
and their boards to account.
Investing in “The responsible consumer” theme
Interview with Lombard Odier
Transition on this scale naturally creates
a risk of disruption for companies that are
unwilling or unable to change.
All that glitters is not gold (mica)
Mica, which refers to a group of 37 crystalline
minerals, has long been the primary ingredient for making things shiny. However, there is
a much more sinister side to this glittery
substance. It is estimated that 25% of the world’s
production of mica is sourced from illegal
mines, many of which rely on child labor under
unsafe and often exploitative conditions.
The Responsible Mica Initiative was established
with the aim to implement fair practices, increase traceability along supply chains, empower
local communities, and build legal and livable
conditions for those affected. Several large beauty
brands have become members of the
initiative, striving to achieve a 100% sustainable
mica supply chain by 2022.
36 The responsible consumer – Credit Suisse 37
24%
45%
Responsible tourism
Awareness has almost doubled in recent years
2018
2014
The last few decades have been pivotal in
improving access and mobility for travelers. The
increase in flight destinations coupled with a
reduction in average flight prices has resulted in
people getting quick and affordable access to
the entire globe. 2018 marked the ninth consecutive year of continued growth in tourism.
While tourism comes with many potential benefits
to countries (economic boost, infrastructure
development, and employment growth), it also
poses considerable environmental and social
challenges.
Over-tourism can have devastating effects on the
environment. According to the United Nations,
tourism is the fourth largest polluter in Europe and
accounts for approximately 8% of global carbon
emissions. Other environmental consequences
include air pollution, deforestation, erosion, and
damage to coral reefs, to name just a few.
The detrimental repercussions of mass tourism are
not just limited to its environmental impact,
however. Low wages and seasonal contracts in the
industry mean that local communities may not
receive a fair share of the dollar visitors spend. In
some cases, tourism may also be associated
with human rights violations, such as human
trafficking, forced labor, or increased criminality.
Thankfully, new trends such as sustainable tourism
are gaining momentum from visitors who wish
to travel in a more responsible way. In April 2019,
Booking.com surveyed more than 18,000
users and found that awareness and interest in
responsible tourism has almost doubled in
recent years. In 2014, only 24% of respondents
considered sustainability an important aspect
of their travel. By 2018, that number had risen to
45%. Consumers are now more mindful of the
impact that their actions can have on the planet
and its people.
Despite its growing popularity, however, sustainable
tourism still faces many challenges that could
prevent it from becoming mainstream. Tourists
are dependent on transportation. By default,
this means that tourism is only ever as sustainable
as the planes, trains, cars, and cruises used
to transport tourists to their holiday destinations
(see page 28). Likewise, studies have shown
that just 4% of the travel industry offer responsible
products and/or services. With nearly half of
travelers expressing an interest in sustainable
tourism, this represents a clear market gap.
The good news is that changes in the supply side
of tourism are taking place and organizations
have started to work on providing more transparency to customers. For example, the hospitality
industry is also stepping up, with an increasing
number of hotel chains announcing their goal to
reduce food waste by 50% by 2025 while others
have decided to remove miniature amenities in
an effort to combat plastic waste.
Sustainable tourism is a term that can no longer
be ignored. The devastating impact of overtourism has confirmed that consumers, governments and companies need to shift toward
sustainable practices.
Sustainable tourism
Chapter 3: The opportunity
38 The responsible consumer – Credit Suisse 39
Conclusion
At the time, Ehrlich’s predictions seemed reasonable enough. The human population was
growing exponentially; resources were not.
Yet here we are, half a century later. The world
population has continued to grow; hunger has
not. In fact, the share of the world’s population
living in absolute poverty has fallen by more than
50%. Far from the doomsday apocalypse that
Ehrlich foreshadowed, we are now witnessing an
“unprecedented era of global prosperity.”
So what has happened in the world since 1968 to
render Ehrlich’s predictions so “comically bad,”
in the words of one of his harsher critics? Quite
simply, humanity managed to discover more and
more ingenious ways of evading Ehrlich’s ticking
population bomb. When Ehrlich predicted that
food supplies would soon run out, the world discovered new ways to farm (increasing yields of
some crops by as much as 100%). When Ehrlich
predicted that economically recoverable reserves
of petroleum stood stagnant, the world invented
new methods of finding and recovering petroleum from untapped reserves (not to mention new
sources of energy such as solar and geothermal).
And when Ehrlich predicted that water scarcity
would soon lead to a decrease in agricultural
yields, the world invented new strands of waterefficient crops.
Yet the basic premise of Ehrlich’s prediction
still holds true: if not managed responsibly, the
Earth’s resources will eventually be depleted.
Already, we are pushing the limits of what nature
can reasonably sustain.
Decoupling refers to a theoretical future in which
economic growth is maintained without the
corresponding increase in environmental pressure.
If we are to continue to prosper (and evade
Ehrlich’s doomsday apocalypse), a rapid decoupling
of consumption from the environmental depletion
it has been associated with will be needed. The
good news is: the world is once again rising to the
challenge. From slow fashion to regenerative
agriculture, the future of consumption is going to
be sustainable.
Investors are important stakeholders in this
transition. By providing growth and seed capital
for sustainable innovation, they can directly
finance the transition to a more sustainable
economy. Likewise, by purchasing stocks
in companies that are at the forefront of the
transition, investors send an important signal
to the market that sustainable production and consumption matter. Finally, investors who use
their voice as shareholders play an important role
in moving companies in a more sustainable
direction.
This is not only good for the world. It is also
good investing. From sustainable fashion to zero
waste electronics, decoupling could unlock
USD 4.5 trillion in potential opportunities per
annum. With consumers expressing greater
demand for sustainable products than ever before
and regulators doubling down on transgressors,
investors would do well to take note.
In his 1968 best seller, The Population Bomb, Stanford
biologist Paul R. Ehrlich predicted that overpopulation
would soon cause a “doomsday apocalypse.” Within the
decade, Ehrlich predicted, resource shortages would result
in hundreds of millions of people starving worldwide.
By 1985, crucial materials would near depletion, pushing
prices out of reach. “Starvation among people would be
accompanied by starvation of industries for the materials
they require.” 
40 The responsible consumer – Credit Suisse 41
Imprint
Authors
Nicole Neghaiwi
Alexandra Stettler
Vivienne E. Yang
Contributors
Marisa Drew
Dana Barsky
Aurelie Gupta
Steven Bates
Thomas Erdmann
Lombard Odier
Editorial support
Christa Jenni
Catherine McLean Trachsler
Project management
Camilla Damm Leuzinger
Claudia Biri
Editorial deadline
13 September 2019
Design
LINE Communications AG
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42
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