Wednesday 31 August 2022

UBS banks on carbon removal deal with Climeworks to support net zero transition

Investment bank and financial services company UBS has signed a 10-year agreement with Climeworks to help offset its unavoidable emissions and support the industry's net zero transition.

The Swiss firm uses a technology called direct air capture (DAC) to capture carbon dioxide directly from the air and put it underground.

UBS is also partnering with Swiss zero-emission concrete provider Neustark - which removes CO2 from the atmosphere and permanently stores it in recycled concrete and cuts new emissions by reducing the use of cement - to offset its unavoidable emissions.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimates between three billion to 12 billion tons of carbon dioxide will need to be removed from the air every year by mid-century to limit global warming to 1.5°C.

Suni Harford, UBS Group Executive Board lead for Sustainability and Impact and President Asset Management said: “Innovative technologies play an increasingly important role in the transition to a low carbon economy.

“By collaborating with neustark and Climeworks, UBS wants both to further reduce our own carbon footprint and, crucially, to support the development of scalable solutions that the world needs to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.”