UBS flags lack of private funding for environment, social and governance causes

Swiss banking giant UBS on Monday said investors are ready to put more money towards environmental, social and governance causes but only if financial firms promote highly personalised choices to allow their clients to leave their mark.

In a white paper issued here on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting, UBS said lack of private funding was putting the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at significant risk.

It called on the financial sector to create more personalised investment choices, adopt greater use of multilateral development bank (MDB) debt and use simpler and more consistent sustainability data and terms.

It also announced that a significant progress has been made towards its 2017 WEF commitment of raising USD 5 billion in impact investments over five years and delivery of its 2018 WEF commitment, including the launch of the industry's first 100 per cent sustainable cross asset solution and MDB debt benchmarks.

UBS, which describes itself as the world's largest wealth manager, announced a pilot program that matches what clients care most about with investments that perform best against their values.

UBS Chairman Axel Weber said the UN SDGs can be achieved only by offering solutions that raise awareness and channel personal preferences for investing sustainably.

He said the world is likely to fall short of the estimated additional USD 2-7 trillion needed annually to solve issues faced by the humanity and environment.

The UN has called for greater private sector funding to support its SDGs.