Zurich, 14 May 2025 – Almost 250 corporate leaders, policymakers, investors, and sustainability professionals gathered at SIX ConventionPoint in Zurich for the Swiss Climate Reporting Forum 2025. Co-hosted by GreenBuzz, Pelt8, and CelsiusPro, the full-day event provided a dynamic platform to explore the evolving ecosystem of climate reporting—and how it must evolve from a compliance-driven exercise into a tool for meaningful transformation.
This year’s theme – Redefining Climate Reporting, Empowering Transformation – captured the growing consensus: accurate, transparent data is essential, but it must lead to decisions, innovation, and lasting impact.
The day began with a clear reminder of why the conversation around climate resilience and corporate strategy cannot wait. Speakers pointed to recent climate events that highlight the growing financial and operational risks posed by climate volatility.
Other speakers noted a shift underway in many organisations, as companies begin to extend their sustainability efforts beyond internal operations and Scope 3 calculations toward more active engagement with suppliers and wider ecosystems.
Underscoring the opportunities for shared learning outside of silos, the day’s moderator Stephanie Feeney encouraged participants to “step out of your daily routine to learn and to teach.” There was certainly plenty of both on this day full of insights.
The opening keynote by Dr. Maneesh Wadhwa from SIX addressed the elephant in the room: measurement without action is no longer enough. Drawing from the title of his session—“From Reporting to Action”—he emphasized that climate metrics must be translated into durable strategies, especially when it comes to Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR).
With CO₂ remaining in the atmosphere for thousands of years, Wadhwa explained why offsetting unavoidable emissions via CDR must become a core pillar of every corporate net zero roadmap. He outlined the stark atmospheric lifespans of various gases to reinforce the importance of long-term thinking, while highlighting Switzerland’s proactive stance, which includes recommendations for a linear build-up of carbon removal credits to meet 2050 targets.
“The house is full. It shows there is an urgency, there is a need for reporting,” said Dr. Wadhwa.“Action is louder and more impactful than reporting.”
Prof. Dr. Thomas Berndt from the University of St. Gallen gave an insightful overview of the rapidly shifting regulatory landscape, both within the EU and Switzerland. He described the transition from the 2019 Green Deal to the far-reaching Omnibus Directive, which brings sweeping changes to sustainability reporting rules, including CSRD scope reduction and simplification of ESG data points.
He warned that sustainability regulation is now under pressure from political and economic headwinds—especially in the U.S.—and called for a move beyond compliance to economic and strategic value creation.“We need practical insights—not just to comply, but to avoid inaction and ‘wait and see’ paralysis,” Berndt concluded.
The first panel—Navigating the New Era of Sustainability Reporting—featured senior representatives from Novartis, Holcim, and the Asset Management Association Switzerland, moderated by Prof. Berndt.
All speakers agreed: climate reporting should not be a box-checking exercise but an evolving internal dialogue that supports business resilience and innovation.
A highlight of the day was the keynote by Rob Cameron, VP & Global Head of ESG Engagement at Nestlé, who delivered an energizing and challenging talk on the role of leadership in navigating the complexity of global sustainability.
Cameron’s main message: sustainability must be embedded in the business strategy—not siloed.
“Hope is not a strategy, but we need hope and we need agency,” Cameron said, quoting philosopher Antonio Gramsci: “The old is dying and the new cannot be born.”
He urged sustainability professionals to evolve into Chief Growth Officers, shifting the narrative from compliance to growth, resilience, and competitive advantage. Nestlé’s longstanding focus on Creating Shared Value, he noted, is not just about doing good—it’s about aligning purpose with business results.
Cameron shared practical tools, such as using materiality assessments not just for reporting, but for strategic prioritization—where to lead, where to compete, and where to comply. He also spoke about the rising importance of AI and governance frameworks in enabling this transformation.
“Don’t do things out of convenience—do them out of conviction,” Cameron advised.
“You are a subsystem of an ecosystem. If the system fails, so do you.”
In the second panel, moderated by Ophelie Janus (Siemens), speakers from Swiss Sustainable Finance the City of Zurich and more explored how sustainability can drive innovation, employee engagement, and investment decisions. Sabine Döbeli (Swiss Sustainable Finance) highlighted the role of investors since the early 1990s and called for more standardization to make ESG data comparable and investable. From a different perspective, Florian Suter (City of Zurich) described Zurich’s work on fleet electrification, infrastructure transparency, and public-private partnerships to advance energy and water sustainability.
AI was a hot topic, with panelists noting its dual role: a transformative tool when used wisely, but also energy-intensive and vulnerable to misuse without proper context and governance.
Dr. Claude A. Garcia (BFH / ETH), closed the day with a passionate and philosophical call for mindset change. He warned against performative ESG and urged the audience to focus on human factors like empathy, curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking.
Drawing from behavioral science, Garcia introduced four personas that hinder progress: the ignorant, the denier, the occupied, and the concerned—each requiring a different communication strategy. Only by addressing these psychological barriers, he argued, can we transition from reporting to genuine transformation.
“Getting on the scale won’t make you thinner,” he said pointedly.“Reporting is not the goal—it’s the start of the journey.”
He closed with a striking quote from Sun Tzu:“All warfare is based on deception,” cautioning that ESG reporting must not be used as a veneer, but as a tool for honest introspection and change.
The Swiss Climate Reporting Forum 2025 made one thing clear: climate reporting is no longer just a regulatory requirement—it’s a strategic lever for value creation, innovation, and leadership. As the world moves from disclosure to delivery, Swiss companies and institutions must embrace reporting not just as a compliance task, but as a catalyst for action.
