Business Travel

Business travel is a significant contributor to UBS's greenhouse gas emissions. However travel is essential for our client-facing businesses, and in vast geographical regions such as Asia Pacific and the Americas. We are constantly identifying ways to encourage use of environmentally friendly alternatives to air and road travel, for example video conferences. In other cases there is an indirect solution which involves compensating for carbon emissions by investing in what are termed "offsetting" projects. These reduce greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and therefore also contribute to our group-wide CO2 emission reduction target of 40% below 2004 levels by 2012.

Case studies

2007 – UBS offsetting projects
We continued with our strategy of offsetting all air travel in 2007 and selected four projects in China, India, Brazil and Germany.

2006 - UBS’s offsetting projects
In 2006 UBS decided to offset all CO2 emissions that resulted from our entire 2006 business travel, i.e. over 100'000 tons of CO2. We selected four projects in Brazil, Russia, India and China offsetting projects on the basis of their adherence to international quality standards, of their additional environmental and social benefits, and of their geographical proximity with important emerging markets.

2005 – Mobility Car Sharing
UBS offers its employees in Switzerland the services of the car sharing company "Mobility". Instead of using their own car for business client visits, UBS promotes the combination of public transportation and Mobility. Mobility is a leading CarSharing company in Switzerland with the largest network of stations (some 1'000). These services are based on economical, technological and ecological efficiency.

2005 - Video Conferencing
A significant increase in the number of video conference units and usage was observed in 2005. Over 20 000 video conferences were held in 2005, representing a 47% increase from 2004. A further 100 video conference units were also purchased. It is hoped that the increased usage of such units will reduce the need for travel.