Communications & Training

Environmental awareness and expertise play an important role in achieving our environmental goals and the desired impact on value drivers in our various business areas. We therefore invest in know-how and integrate environmental considerations into internal communications and training.

UBS identifies all relevant communications and training needs to ensure that all personnel, whose work may create a significant impact on the environment, are appropriately aware and trained. UBS distinguishes environmental training in two categories:

Awareness raising is designed to provide a general understanding of UBS's environmental policy and principles. It also aims at motivating employees to act in an environmentally friendly way at the workplace.
Specialized environmental training is provided to employees who are dealing with environmental aspects in everyday business processes, such as investment advisors, credit officers or operators of technical systems. Each training unit is tailor-made and designed to be as realistic as possible, i.e. it focuses on the specific task facing the target group within the environmental management system. Wherever possible, these modules are not stand-alone solutions, but form part of our existing standard training, enabling us to incorporate environmental aspects in the relevant business processes.

Performance indicators are compiled regularly to show how well the agreed measures have been implemented and how many people from the relevant target groups have been trained.

To help raise awareness, we regularly provide our employees with information on our commitment to the environment via the intranet: the central UBS intranet site highlights environmental successes or events, provides environmental tips or informs about the introduction of new procedures and tools.

Case studies

2007/2008 – IB Environmental Communications Framework Launched
The IB Environmental Communications Framework was developed and implemented in 2007. The framework categorizes the target audience into five groups: three categories are within the IB business leaders group and two sit within the general IB employee base. For the month of April 2008, the entire IB employee base was targeted with a multi level campaign to raise awareness about UBS’s environmental commitments, environmental risk management efforts and in-house footprint reduction goals.

2007 – Global WM&BB induction training
Global standard presentations for induction programs have been launched successfully in all international locations in order to raise the environmental awareness among new employees at Global WM&BB across the world. This international rollout allowed the number of new joiners reached by this awareness raising program to rise from 1,900 in 2006, to 3,500 in 2007.

2007 – The Harvard Business School deliberates UBS’s approach to climate change
In Boston, Massachusetts, on February 20, 2007, the HBS Case Study, “UBS and Climate Change – Warming Up to Global Action”, was presented to 65 second-year Harvard MBA students in a “Strategies Beyond the Market” course. The case study focuses on the approach to climate change adopted by UBS and specifically the various options which were considered to lessen the firm's impact on climate change. “While HBS students cover many climate change cases in the master’s degree program,” says HBS professor Felix Oberholzer, “what makes the UBS case study significant is its focus on climate change from a corporate responsibility perspective. The case study doesn’t talk much about climate change per se. It instead looks at what companies should be doing regarding climate change by looking at citizens and employees – it’s special because it takes a company point of view.” In the class, discussion centered upon what value is gained through a company’s activeness in respect to climate change.

2006 – Extractive Industries Forum
In 2006 UBS convened an Extractive Industries Forum where internal specialists from all Business Groups and relevant functions were brought together. The Forum also benefited from presentations by external speakers from the extractive industries. The Forum examined the impact of environmental and social issues on extractive industries, and how UBS may be affected. Participants were introduced to analysis and know-how coming from all areas of the firm, thereby raising awareness and establishing internal networks around these issues.

2006 – Group Real Estate Workshop on Energy Efficiency
In May 2006, senior managers from real estate and IT Infrastructure functions participated in a workshop addressing ways to tackle climate change issues from a building or IT perspective. The half day session outlined the role of real estate and IT in the active management of energy on both supply and demand-side and in further embedding energy conservation into the UBS culture and operations.

2005 – Specialized training for In-house ecology outside Switzerland
In 2005, 500 staff were trained in global offices outside of Switzerland. The training was predominantly specialized environmental training sessions aimed at UBS contractors, resource managers, building managers and M&E staff. Examples include

Weehawken, US: Specialized environmental training was undertaken for nine UBS contractors in fuel oil spill prevention (legislation, procedures and response measures).
Hong Kong: Specialized ISO 14001 Internal Training Session for thirteen Hong Kong staff in April 2005. The training provided a review of UBS’s ISO 14001 EMS system, the environmental policy and the relevant operational procedures and office initiatives.
London: Building services legislation training was undertaken for 15 contractors and staff in September 2005. The training related to legislation updates that are relevant to building contractors.

2005 – Risk Management training in Switzerland
46 Client Advisors and Credit Officers in charge of Swiss Multinationals and Commodity Trade Finance were trained on new environmental risk procedures and checklist.

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