Global banking giant UBS has signed a 10-year agreement with carbon dioxide removal pioneer, Climeworks.

Following earlier purchases from Stripe, Klarna, Square Inc, LGT and Verdane, UBS is the latest – and the largest – financial services company to commit to Climeworks’ carbon removal solution; and is itself a founding member of the Net-Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA) and the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ).

Sabine Keller-Busse, president of UBS Switzerland, said: “Switzerland has a long tradition of promoting innovation and we are delighted to be supporting these pioneering solutions from two Swiss companies, Sustainability continues to be at the top of our clients' agendas and, in order to be a credible partner, it is important that we demonstrate our continued commitment when it comes to the sustainability of our own business activities."

Christoph Gebald, co-founder and co-CEO of Climeworks, added: “We are delighted to enter this long-term agreement with UBS. In the past months, the number of multi-year carbon removal agreements has increased rapidly. Such long-term commitments are central to our growth planning and enable us to scale up."

In addition to its partnership with Climeworks, UBS is also working with Neustark, in addressing its unavoidable carbon emissions.

Suni Harford, UBS group executive board lead for sustainability and impact, and president of asset management, commented: "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."

On top of drastic emissions reductions, carbon removal solutions need to be deployed at scale to reach global net-zero emissions by 2050, and afterwards net-negative emissions. In its most recent report, the IPCC estimates that by mid-century, 3-12 billion tons of CO2 will need to be removed from the air every year in order to limit global warming to 1.5°C.

Through capital allocation, stakeholder involvement and client engagement, financial services companies can act as a catalyst for emissions reductions and removals.

Image courtesy Climeworks: Founder Jan Wurzbacher and engineers are pictured in 2021 at Climeworks' Orca plant in Iceland

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