Switzerland closed its last coal mine 75 years ago... Nevertheless, in the 2000s it became a heavyweight in the international coal trade...

Public Eye counted 245 companies currently registered in Switzerland’s commercial register with the aim to market coal extracted from mines that they own, or have bought on the markets, or in Over-the-counter agreements; or providing financial services associated with coal or one of its derivatives...

18 mining companies, most of which recently settled in Switzerland, extract in total over 536 million tonnes of coal a year. Once the emissions associated with the extraction, transport and transformation into electricity are accounted for, that equates to nearly 5.4 billion tonnes of CO2 released into the atmosphere. That’s more than the emissions of the largest global power, the United States...

Despite the approximately 60 million tonnes it marketed in 2021, Trafigura did not think to mention coal in its Sustainability Report. Vitol entered the market in 2006. Eight years later, it was celebrating having traded over “30 million tonnes of physical coal”. The Geneva-based trader, better known as an oil specialist, thus became “one of the world’s top five coal traders”. Since then, all reference to coal has disappeared from Vitol’s website and even from its brief financial reports. When contacted, the company’s representative asserted that the volumes have dropped from 60 percent, and that the company only held a minority shareholding (0.6%) in the South African mining company that “Vitol will look to exit [from] as soon as it [is] practicable”...

According to Public Eye’s investigation, drawing on data from the Dutch research agency Profundo: since the Paris Agreement, Swiss banks have lent nearly USD 3.15 billion to the Swiss coal industry... None of the banks in question wished to comment on the figures provided by third parties...

Public Eye contacted all major banks regarding their exclusion criteria. Every institution responded, except for the Geneva Cantonal Bank. When challenged, the bank did state that it “does not communicate on its policy of distributing international trade financing according to category of commodity”.

The exclusion criteria developed by the banks (see table, page 37) are formulated in such a way that large, diversified groups slip through the net of climate commitments... None of the commitments made by the Swiss banks analysed by Public Eye would actually exclude financing of Glencore’s business linked to coal...

THE COAL INDUSTRY

• It should immediately cease extraction of the most polluting forms of coal, such as lignite.

• Companies active in the extraction and trade of coal should present credible measures that are verifiable by independent parties, to achieve a complete exit from coal by 2030.

THE FEDERAL COUNCIL AND PARLIAMENT

• They should take action to end the trade with coal, the most polluting of fossil fuels, by 2030

• Switzerland should integrate, in the meantime, the indirect CO2 emissions generated by coal traders registered in the country in its climate objectives and policies.

• They should introduce into Swiss law a requirement for transparency around contracts and payments to governments for coal trade, and for the rest of the commodities trade. The origin of commodities should be traceable.

• Switzerland should set up an oversight body for the commodities sector that has the power to control companies, and sanction those breaking the law.

THE WORLD OF FINANCE

• Financial institutions should stop loans to companies active in the coal sector that have not implemented a credible plan to exit coal by 2030, accompanied by appropriate measures that are verifiable by independent parties.

• No new coal-fired power plants should be financed.

• The Swiss National Bank should cease investments in all companies that produce or trade in coal.

• Cantonal banks should commit to no longer providing funds to companies active in the coal sector, whether through transaction financing or corporate loans.