Corporate Responsibility

As a leading financial service firm, one of our main purposes is to create long-term value. We achieve this by providing our clients with value-added products and services, promoting a corporate culture that adheres to high ethical standards, and by generating superior and sustainable returns for our shareholders.

As one of the first companies to join the UN Global Compact in 2000, we firmly believe that sustainable growth and investment for any business also depends on what it does above and beyond what laws and regulations require. It is why we are committed to creating a working environment based on the values of equal opportunity, diversity and meritocracy. We have also adopted measures to protect the environment, we adhere to high social standards and contribute to the communities we are a part of. All our activities are underpinned by our governance structure, which complies with the leading codes of best practice.

For more details on Corporate Responsibility at UBS, please read our Handbook 2006 / 2007.

Environment

We were also one of the first signatories of the United ­Nations Environment Program's Bank Declaration (UNEP ­Finance Initiative) in 1992, which committed us to integrating appropriate environmental measures into our activities. Today, our efforts to protect the environment, which started in the 1970s, have grown into a well-developed, global environmental management system certified to the ISO 14001 standard covering banking and in-house operations. We consider efficient and sustainable management of our energy requirements, and the measures we have taken to reduce our carbon emissions, as an important factor in being a responsible corporation. In February 2006, we set a target to reduce our carbon emissions in 2012 by 40% from 2004 levels.

Money laundering prevention

Extensive and constant efforts to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing are important contributions to society. The integrity of the financial system is the responsibility of all those involved in it. We take our duties extremely seriously – in protecting both the system at large and our own operations. (For more information see the feature article "A robust framework" in this Annual Review).

Socially responsible investments and carbon markets

UBS has strong expertise in incorporating environmental and social aspects into its research and advisory activities. In addition to financial considerations, socially responsible investments (SRI) put special focus on environmental, social, or ethical criteria. UBS itself started offering SRI products in 1997.

Our Global Asset Management business offers a wide range of SRI products to both private and institutional investors. In Switzerland and Japan, we use an approach that actively selects the best performers in each industry on environmental and social criteria. The SRI funds use both our SRI and mainstream research platforms to construct a portfolio of leading SRI stocks. In the US, Global Asset Management manages various institutional accounts that exclude certain companies or sectors using "negative" screening criteria. In the UK, Global Asset Management seeks to influence the corporate responsibility and corporate governance performance of the companies it invests in. UBS's open architecture also allows clients to invest in SRI products from third party providers.

In the Investment Bank, UBS has a well-established SRI research team that produces original research on areas of increasing or diminishing risk, organizes conferences and collaborative research by analysts about emerging SRI themes, and quantifies the effects on share prices of companies with exposure to such issues. In 2006, the Investment Bank launched the world's first biofuel index – the UBS Diapason Global Biofuel Index, and the world's first emissions index – the UBS World Emissions Index.

In 2006, a focus of Global Wealth Management & Business Banking was the full integration of SRI-products into the UBS Client Experience framework.

The UBS Climate Change Strategy Certificate, an actively managed basket of around 20–25 stocks, was launched in February 2007 from existing capabilities in the investment banking and asset management businesses. The Certificate gives investors access to innovative companies that develop solutions to fight climate change. The investment areas are energy production (renewable energy and cleaner energy) and energy efficiency (in buildings, in transport and in industrial processes and products).