Julie Hudson & team, UBS

The UBS quartet that Julie Hudson conducts falls one notch to third place. Hudson, who is headquartered in London, is “one of the most sophisticated people in the socially responsible investing analysis business,” insists one money manager; and her team warrants praise for its “very extensive knowledge and awareness of political and regulatory developments.” Given “the continuing evolution of the financial credit crunch and the increasing complexity of geopolitics,” Hudson says, the analysts are looking to the corporate sector as a source of sustainable innovations. Chemicals, for instance, “provide the building blocks for so many other industries,” she notes, “and the chances are that sustainable innovations — whether it’s the way food is grown or washing detergents work — are going to come from that field.”