If the world is to reach the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions need to be drastically reduced. Many countries and corporations aim to reach net-zero GHG emissions by 2050. This means that global emissions have to be reduced by at least 90%, and any remaining emissions should be removed from the atmosphere through nature- or technological-based solutions.
Recognising the role we can play as a wealth manager, we have defined long-and-near-term targets to reduce GHG emissions. We aim to achieve net-zero in our treasury, mortgage, and lending books by 2050 and on our operations by 2030.
Alongside these long-term commitments, in 2023 Julius Baer published near-term targets that have been validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). This confirms that our emissions reduction plan is in line with the Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting global warming to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels. We also have a goal to reduce business travel emissions by 30% by 2025 vs 2019.
Taking action on our investments
To achieve our targets for our own and our clients’ investments, we leverage our stewardship activities, which are an important tool for catalysing sustainable change, especially as it relates to climate. These activities support our responsible wealth management approach and centre on engagement, voting, and dialogues with public stakeholders. Julius Baer Stewardship Framework
We engage in active and constructive dialogues with selected companies about their climate strategies and transition plans. The ultimate goal of these interactions is to support the reduction of the companies’ greenhouse gas emissions in line with the Paris Agreement. However, in addition to supporting progress towards our climate targets, engagement activities also help improve the risk-return profiles of our own and our clients’ investments. Where appropriate, we join forces with other investors to increase our engagement impact.
We exercise voting rights at the general meetings of investee companies in Julius Baer funds with a view to promoting sustainable business practices while enhancing long-term shareholder value. An overview of the latest voting activities can be found here.
We engage directly and indirectly in an active dialogue with relevant public stakeholders, such as industry associations and policy makers, on issues with an impact on responsible investing.
Taking action within our operations
At Julius Baer, walking the talk means we continuously work on reducing emissions on our operations.
We are transitioning to renewable energy across our offices globally. For instance, we source 100% renewable electricity in Switzerland. When selecting locations for new premises across the globe, energy-efficiency is a key criterion. The majority of our new offices are LEED or BREEAM certified to ensure energy efficiency.
A significant portion of our operational emissions comes from business travel. To help reduce these emissions, we introduced an internal carbon price on air travel in 2022.
The internal carbon price not only encourages more conscious travelling within Julius Baer, but also funds several decarbonisation initiatives across nature-based and technological solutions.
Rewilding forests in Indonesia and Panama
Today, nature is the only way to capture carbon at large scale. If done well, nature-based projects can also provide significant social and biodiversity benefits. Therefore, we are supporting two long-term projects in Indonesia and Panama that work towards the restoration of local forests.
Partnerships with global airlines to purchase sustainable aviation fuel
With 80% less CO2 emissions than kerosene, sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) is expected to play an important role in decarbonising air travel. In September 2023, Julius Baer became the first Swiss financial institution to partner with Swiss International Airlines and the Lufthansa Group to purchase SAF. Since then, we have also signed similar agreements with other airlines, including Cathay Pacific and International Airlines Group (parent of British Airways, Aer Lingus, and Iberia), to purchase SAF.
These partnerships aim to develop SAF as a mainstream fuel while reducing Julius Baer’s carbon footprint.