The sustainable savings account makes an impact

UBS Sustainable Savings Account Quarterly Report Q1 2024

This report shows how we use your savings account balance for sustainable purposes and thus contribute to limiting global warming. In the UBS Sustainability Report 2023, we disclosed our decarbonization targets for Swiss real estate which are to reduce the CO2 emissions intensities associated with our Residential and Commercial real estate lending activity by 45 percent, resp. 48%, by 2030 (from 2021 levels). The sustainable savings account, the deposits of which are allocated to the financing of Minergie-certified properties in Switzerland, contributes to achieving this goal.

In the first quarter, we reduced 5600 kg of CO2 together.

We measure ourselves against these key figures

Every savings deposit has an impact, for example by being used to finance or refinance loans and mortgages. UBS takes the money that you pay into the account and allocates it to sustainable loans that are in line with one or more of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. UBS currently considers the following types of loans as sustainable: financing or refinancing of energy-efficient buildings with a Minergie certificate. Minergie-certified buildings are characterized by low energy consumption and a high proportion of renewable energies. It targets the UN Sustainable Development Goal No. 11: Sustainable Cities & Communities. This has enabled us to achieve the following results as of 31 March 2024.

The deposit volume in all UBS Sustainable Savings Accounts amounts to:

  • 0

    CHF million

The loans to which these savings deposits were allocated enabled in the fourth quarter1 a reduction of2:

  • 0

    kWh of energy

  • 0

    kg of CO₂ emission

For every CHF 1,000 deposited in the UBS Sustainable Savings Account2:

  • 2.9 kWh of energy can be reduced per year.
  • around 0.51 kg of CO2 emissions can be prevented each year.

To illustrate:

2.9 kWh of energy corresponds to approximately 30 hours’ runtime of a desktop PC.3

0.51 kg CO2 emissions is roughly the volume needed for a 2-km journey in a mid-range car.4

100% of the sustainable deposits are allocated to loans financing Minergie-certified buildings which have been financed since June 2019.

1Estimate, reflects the pro-rata energy reductions and CO2 emissions avoided for an average quarter based on the loan portfolio as of 31 December 2023, see section 4. Impact reporting of the Green Funding Framework – Annual Investor Report 2023.
2This produces a combined effect, i.e., the CO2 emissions reduced are partly a result of the energy reductions mentioned above.
3Source: https://www.verivox.de/strom/themen/1-kilowattstunde/
4Source: https://www.myclimate.org/en/

As of 31 December 2023, the total pool of such loans amounts to CHF 3,942 million, including CHF 2,300 million which have been financed post June 2021.

You can find further information in the factsheet on the UBS Sustainable Savings Account(PDF, 97 KB) and in the annual reporting on the UBS Green Funding Framework. This also includes further details on how the impact is calculated, namely the energy and CO2 reductions mentioned above.

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