UBS appoints former chief scientific advisor for climate change push

Sir David King to advise bank and its clients on scientific issues, with a particular focus on responses to climate change

JP Morgan and Zurich may have secured Tony Blair to help guide their responses to globalisation and climate change, but banking giant UBS has today announced it has appointed another key figure in the Blair administration's global warming policies, former chief scientific advisor to the government, Sir David King.

King stepped down from the role late last year and will join the bank as a senior scientific advisor, based in London. UBS said he would advise the bank and its clients on all scientific matters with a particular emphasis on global climate change.

Lord Waldegrave of North Hill, UBS Vice Chairman Investment Banking, welcomed the move claiming Sir David would help the bank meet its own environmental responsibilities, including a target to cut emissions by 40 per cent on 2004 levels by 2012. "Equally, we have many clients globally who will be delighted to tap into Sir David’s internationally respected expertise not only on issues of climate change, but on other scientific matters," he added.

King is also likely to help shape the development of new products and services designed to address climate change and the opportunities presented by carbon trading and clean technologies.

Earlier this year, UBS underlined its support for market responses to help tackle climate change, launching the world's first derivatives index for tracking the greenhouse effect. The UBS Greenhouse Index is linked to the price of carbon credits and global temperature rises and allows investors to bet on the performance of the index in much the same way as they can buy exposure to conventional indices such as FTSE or Dow Jones stock market indices.

King has been a vocal supporter of the development of a carbon market, repeatedly calling for the introduction of a global cap and trade scheme that would make carbon emissions a tradable commodity.

He has also been an occasionally controversial figure, claiming in an interview with the BBC late last year that the world is now more than 50 per cent likely to experience dangerous climate change.

He added that there was a 20 per cent chance of temperature rises exceeding 3.7C. "Ask yourself the question," he said, "if you got on a plane and the pilot said you've got an 80 per cent chance of landing this plane safely, I doubt if you'd get on it."

King has also been a vocal advocate of both GM Crops and nuclear power, and controversially claimed in 2004 that climate change was a greater threat than international terrorism – a statement he has stood by.