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Discussion series 'Monthly topics'

«A thousand billion responsibilities - balancing act between retirement and a world to live in. A contradiction?»
WAV Recherchekollektiv und Tsüri.ch

Talk

A regular series titled «Monthly Topics» of talks organised by Gessnerallee in cooperation with editorial teams. Once a month, an editorial team selects a key journalistic topic and shares it live with the audience. This time it's about what the investments of our pension funds have to do with us. 

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  • Wed 05/1119:30 – 21:00

    Stall 6

Gessnerallee presents a series of journalistic focus topics in collaboration with different editorial teams. Copyright: Bodara GmbH

Pension funds are the largest investors in Switzerland. However, which companies and countries they invest in is usually a black box. 

The ‘Thousand Billion Responsibility’ project is changing that. In collaboration with local media, the WAV Recherchekollektiv and CORRECTIV.Schweiz are publishing the detailed investments of public pension funds. Together with Tsüri.ch, they are also investigating the investments of the funds from Zurich.

A look at the books of the Zurich pension funds shows that they either invest in the largest fracking companies worldwide or continue to insist on a lack of transparency. This raises questions. What expectations do we have of our pension funds in terms of investments and transparency? And what about the supposed conflict between profitability and sustainability? 

The WAV research collective and Tsüri.ch will discuss this topic as the kick-off to the Gessnerallee's new series of talks entitled ‘Monthly Topics’. They make a rather dry topic accessible – there will be a thematic input and, in the form of a small town hall meeting, an exchange takes place about pension fund investments.

More about the journalistic research: https://wav.info/recherchen/tausend-milliarden-franken-verantwortung 

Speakers

  • Olivier Christe (WAV Research Collective) is a financial and climate journalist at the WAV Research Collective. Since 2024, he has been leading the transparency project ‘1000 Billion Responsibility’, which, in collaboration with Correctiv.Schweiz, makes the investments of Swiss pension funds accessible. Olivier believes that ‘research must uncover information and abuses in order to enable a fact-based public debate.’

  • Dr Jürg Tobler (PKZH) has been Head of the Asset Management division at the City of Zurich Pension Fund since 2011. He has been working in the pension fund's investment division since 2006. Previously, he worked at Zürcher Kantonalbank as Head of Interest Rate Research and in Asset Management. He is a member of the ASIP Investment Commission.

  • Lea Trogrlić (economist) has dealt with the topics of post-growth, ecological economics, emissions pricing and sustainable finance in the recent years. Her focus is on the interface between economics and the environment. Most recently, she developed the financial centre initiative for a sustainable Swiss financial centre at the SP Switzerland.

  • Moderation (WAV research collective)

More information about the hosts

WAV is a twelve-member research collective from Zurich. They have been research partners for journalists and editorial offices, civil society and the non-profit sector since 2021. Their research critically scrutinises and opens the doors of boardrooms and boardrooms where decisions that affect everyone are quietly made. They create transparency - so that those responsible are not judged by their words, but by their actions. https://wav.info/

Tsüri.ch was founded in 2015 by Simon Jacoby together with a group of young journalists with the aim of producing independent local journalism. A city magazine that is always critical, on the pulse of the city and transparent. Every year, they organise focus months on topics such as housing, addiction and mobility. The content of these focus months includes panel discussions, city walks and workshops. https://tsri.ch/

Information on accessibility and language

  • The event lasts 90 minutes (without intermission).

  • The event will be held in spoken German.

Overview of the upcoming «Monthly Topics»

3 December, «Monthly Topic: Abuse of power at universities – 200 testimonials and calls for reform»

Have you experienced abuse of power at a Swiss university? Well over 100 people responded to this call from the investigative research team REFLEKT in summer 2025. They told of emotional manipulation, intimidation, exploitation of dependency relationships or sexual harassment. And they explained the extent to which they felt supported by their university - or not.

The REFLEKT journalists examined and contextualised this feedback together with experts. On stage, they will provide insights into their months of research and discuss with experts: Why is it so difficult to deal with such cases? Where do the institutions fail? And what urgently needs to change?

January 7, «Monthly topic: An evening on barriers and how we dismantle them»

Since November 2024, CORRECTIV.Schweiz has been researching visible and invisible barriers in everyday life as part of the «Achtung Barriere! Where is life made more difficult for you?» project, the editorial team has been researching visible and invisible barriers in everyday life - in the city, in social life and in our minds. The focus is on people with disabilities and the challenges they face on a daily basis. How does it feel to navigate through public spaces as a blind, autistic or mobility-impaired person? What barriers arise due to bureaucratic structures, a lack of consideration or a lack of knowledge? And what does it mean when even the right to leisure, self-determination or safety is up for debate? On this evening, CORRECTIV.Schweiz gives space to one or more of these questions - with personal texts, conversations and perspectives that are often not heard enough.

  • Many people pay money from their work into pension funds.

    They get the money back when they stop working.

    No one knows what happens to the money in the meantime.

    Some pension funds give money to companies

    that use fracking.

    Fracking means that the company uses chemicals to extract gas or oil from the ground.

    This is bad for the climate.

    The project A Trillion in Responsibility presents this information.

    There will be a lecture on this topic at Gessnerallee,

    followed by a discussion with the audience.

  • Once a month, an editorial team selects a journalistic focus topic that matches the themes or audience of Gessnerallee and shares it live with visitors on site. Gessnerallee's new series of talks takes place in cooperation with various editorial teams. The ‘monthly topics’ were inspired by the highly acclaimed ‘Kosmopolitics’ series, which took place at the former Kosmos.

  • WAV

    WAV is a twelve-member research collective from Zurich. They have been research partners for journalists and editorial offices, civil society and the non-profit sector since 2021. Their research critically scrutinises and opens the doors of boardrooms and boardrooms where decisions that affect everyone are quietly made. They create transparency - so that those responsible are not judged by their words, but by their actions. https://wav.info/

    Tsüri.ch

    Tsüri.ch was founded in 2015 by Simon Jacoby together with a group of young journalists with the aim of producing independent local journalism. A city magazine that is always critical, on the pulse of the city and transparent. Every year, they organise focus months on topics such as housing, addiction and mobility. The content of these focus months includes panel discussions, city walks and workshops. https://tsri.ch/

    REFLEKT

    REFLEKT, Switzerland's first independent and non-profit research team, was founded in 2019. Since then, a small, powerful team has been carrying out major research with a big impact. In order to uncover abuses and promote transparency, they focus on investigative research projects lasting several months, which traditional editorial teams are increasingly unable to handle. By presenting their work in an attractive way and publishing it via various channels, they make their work accessible to the widest possible audience. In this way, they promote quality in journalism, increase public awareness and contribute to media diversity and a functioning democracy. https://reflekt.ch/


    CORRECTIV.Schweiz

    CORRECTIV.Switzerland is a non-profit research centre. Together with the population, they conduct research to strengthen democracy. They use innovative approaches and methods, such as the CrowdNewsroom they developed. They also network local journalists and uncover social injustices, either alone or together with partners. https://correctiv.org/schweiz/

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