Other Environmental Topics

SMG’s value of Acting Responsibly extends beyond its own operations. By continuously improving its digital platforms, it helps customers make more sustainable choices and reduce their environmental footprint.

SMG contributes to environmental progress by enabling informed decision-making in climate-critical industries. In the Real Estate business unit, IAZI’s role as a leading Swiss provider of real estate data, valuation models, and consulting services assists decarbonisation efforts. Its tools and assessments provide sustainability metrics and benchmarking to support banks, property owners, real estate agents, and investors. In Automotive, the AutoScout24 EV Hub offers guidance and resources to facilitate the transition to electric vehicles, while SMG’s marketplaces facilitate EV sales.

Enabling a Low-Emission Real Estate Sector

According to the Federal Office for the Environment, buildings account for approximately 22% of Switzerland’s total GHG emissions,⁷ which means decarbonising this sector is central to achieving national climate targets. Regulatory developments, including the Climate and Innovation Act which mandates net-zero emissions by 2050, and the revised CO₂ Act which defines progressive CO₂ limits for buildings, aim to accelerate this transition. These developments represent important opportunities for SMG, as they increase demand for reliable sustainability data that supports investment, renovation, and financing decisions.

Boosting Data-Driven Decarbonisation Capabilities

IAZI’s hedonic energy and CO₂ model estimates energy efficiency and CO₂ emissions for Swiss buildings at scale. In 2025, over 650,000 properties were evaluated for clients in all cantons, supporting portfolio-level energy benchmarking and emissions-reduction pathways. IAZI’s energy and CO₂ calculator provides indicative estimates of building energy consumption and efficiency, while the investment calculator offers insights into potential renovation needs. Together with property assessments and benchmarking services, these tools help property professionals assess energy profiles based on data, even in situations where there is no official energy certificate available.

The data generated through IAZI’s tools helps quantify exposure to carbon-intensive assets and supports net-zero transition planning in line with Swiss energy-efficiency frameworks.⁸ Standardised energy-efficiency and CO₂ metrics can also inform capital planning and renovation scenarios, including the issuance of green bonds and investor impact reporting.

Expanding Climate Risk and Adaptation Tools

Long-term resilience planning for property portfolios increasingly considers climate risk. In 2025, IAZI took the major step integrating climate risk assessments – particularly natural hazard analytics – into its portfolio estimation service. IAZI now combines financial valuation with energy, CO₂, and climate-risk indicators in an interactive visualisation tool. Based on official high-resolution hazard maps, it offers a transparent view of relevant natural hazards. This supports property and portfolio analysis and helps financial institutions meet evolving regulatory expectations for mortgage and credit risk assessments, where material.

Broadening Access to Sustainability Data

The increasing uptake of IAZI’s sustainability solutions by the financial sector points to a growing focus on integrating energy and climate considerations into decision-making. In 2025, around 50 clients relied on IAZI’s energy and climate services. Together, they represent around 40% of the total mortgage volume of Swiss banks and one-third of all Swiss banks active in mortgage financing.

To support broader market access, SMG’s real estate platforms offer service packages that incorporate IAZI’s sustainability tools. Homegate also hosts a Sustainability Advisor hub with resources on energy efficiency, renovation, and sustainable homes and living.

Building Market Capabilities Through Sustainability Training

Recognising that data-driven solutions must be paired with awareness and capability building, IAZI has expanded its e-learning programme for real estate professionals. This course provides over 30 banks throughout Switzerland with practical knowledge to navigate evolving sustainability regulations. It aims to increase sustainability literacy in line with Switzerland’s Sustainable Development Strategy 2030, which emphasises improved environmental competence and sustainable investment and consumption practices. In 2025, a new module on the revised Model Regulations of the Cantons in the Energy Sector (MuKEn 2025) was added to the course.

Driving a more Sustainable Automotive Future

Transitioning Consumers toward Low-Emission Mobility

The automotive sector is transitioning to low-emission mobility, driven by tightening global climate policies, including the EU’s planned phase-out of CO₂-emitting vehicles,⁹ and the increasing availability of EVs in Switzerland. Educating the public about EV ownership and broadening access through the secondhand market are key to enabling a successful transition.

SMG’s automotive platforms provide tools and information to help users navigate the shift to low-emission mobility. The AutoScout24 EV Hub supports this transition with an EV guide, tools such as a range calculator and a charging time calculator, and an interactive map of Swiss charging stations. It also publishes articles and allows users to search for EVs by battery capacity and range. Together, these features help demystify EV ownership, reduce uncertainty, and support purchasing decisions. To gauge the effectiveness of these resources, SMG continuously reviews user engagement trends. In 2025, the EV Hub registered over 200,800 visits, which indicates healthy market interest in electric mobility. This is further reflected in increasing year-on-year search volumes for lower-emission vehicle categories¹⁰ on SMG’s platforms.

Boosting Market Insights to Accelerate EV Adoption

To deepen understanding of how electric mobility is perceived and adopted throughout Switzerland, the Automotive business unit collaborates with market research institutes on representative surveys. A 2025 study, for example, provided insights into consumer attitudes, perceived barriers, and drivers of EV adoption. These insights help refine platform content, support industry partners in tailoring interventions, and improve understanding of the pace, challenges, and enablers of Switzerland’s electromobility transition.