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This website is a critique of the global financial services company, UBS, and its support for fossil fuel projects, which we believe pose a threat to people and the planet. We are not affiliated with, nor have we been endorsed by, any global financial services company.
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Under the Brush Stroke:
Cracks in the UBS Craft

A provocative gallery illustrating the permanent stains of UBS's financial "craft" on communities, ethics, and the environment.
Sculpture hand
From the Curator
Welcome to Under the Brush Stroke: Cracks in the UBS Craft, a gallery that reveals the true cost of UBS's financing.
Inspired by UBS’s longstanding ties to Art Basel and the art world, we reframe UBS investments as “art,” where billions of dollars leave indelible stains on people, ethics and the environment. By enabling companies and institutions that drive LNG expansion in Asia, UBS contributes to a world that contradicts the same principles it claims to uphold.

This is not abstract art. It is the real, lived experience of millions: community harms, loss of livelihood, and health issues. As these communities fight back, UBS’s reputation and client trust are at risk.

Help us repaint reality. Follow and share to demand that UBS divest from fossil fuels and stop the destruction.
Exhibits
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Awaiting appraisal
The Silencing, by Gulf Development (Patron: UBS) picture - positive The Silencing, by Gulf Development (Patron: UBS) picture - negative
The Silencing
by Gulf Development (Patron: UBS)
Medium: Lawsuits & Litigation
What if a US$9.4 million lawsuit became a gag? The canvas reveals how a UBS-linked company silences academic expertise and public participation.
The Clooney Foundation for Justice alleges that Gulf Development uses legal intimidation, to undermine democratic processes and silence dissent.

The foundation alleges that Gulf Development makes an audacious use of litigation, such as defamation charges, with 10 charges levelled against critics between 2021 and 2025 against those who raised questions about Gulf's influence in the energy sector. For example, this artwork is inspired by the latest 300 million Thai baht (US$9.4 million) compensation demanded from critics, while in 2023, approximately 100 million Thai baht (US$2.7 million) was demanded for a Facebook post written by a respected academic.

And what is quietly funding Gulf Development's criticism-silencing brush strokes? Because of its major stake of over 10% of Gulf Development, UBS is a key financial backer of the company and linked to its legal tactics.
Read the real story.
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US$16.3 million (SMGP)
S' drüch Meer / The Barren Sea, By San Miguel Global Power (Patron: UBS) picture - positiveS' drüch Meer / The Barren Sea, By San Miguel Global Power (Patron: UBS) picture - negative
S' drüch Meer / The
Barren Sea
By San Miguel Global Power (Patron: UBS)
Medium: Financial Contradictions on Canvas
This portrait captures the slow, quiet death of marine biodiversity in the Verde Island Passage, a once-vibrant waters now turning into stillness, thanks to a UBS-underwritten company.
A devastating commentary, this watercolor represents the effects of San Miguel Global Power (SMGP) gas projects: on the damaged marine ecosystem within the Verde Island Passage, often called the Amazon of the Oceans. The area’s biodiversity is shrinking and it is in danger of failing to provide a livelihood for millions.

At the heart of this destruction? Approximately US$16.3 million in underwriting from UBS for SMGP, highlighting the paradox of UBS's public statements, for example, “UBS is committed to respecting and promoting human rights,” against the very real environmental and human impacts of San Miguel’s developments.

The damage is clear, including a devastating oil spill in 2023.
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Awaiting appraisal
Dis-ease, Dis-respected, Dis-connected, By JBIC (Patron: UBS) - picture - positiveDis-ease, Dis-respected, Dis-connected, By JBIC (Patron: UBS) - picture - negative
Dis-ease, Dis-respected,
Dis-connected
By JBIC (Patron: UBS)
Medium: International Finance on Owned Land
Capital from UBS fuels projects that are damaging communities and ecosystems across the globe.
This Roman fresco-inspired work reveals a chain of consequence that links distant communities to financial decisions made in UBS boardrooms.

Several climate and environmental organizations, recognizing the impact of UBS’s ownership of JBIC bonds,  have called on UBS to stop supporting JBIC's fossil fuel projects, which damage communities  across Southeast Asia and beyond.

One example: JBIC's 2024 report on the Verde Island Passage admits to violations of Philippine laws but disclaims culpability, a direct chiaroscuro-esque contradiction. Another approximately US$850 million from JBIC helps fund a pipeline in Canada, where Indigenous sovereignty is an afterthought. JBIC projects are criticized for causing health issues, hurting local livelihoods, and forever erasing traditional ways of living.

A global hopeful movement of affected communities worldwide is growing, and its protests and complaints are exposing the true costs behind UBS financing decisions.
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Awaiting appraisal
La Promesse en Fumée / A Promise on Fire, Supported by UBS - picture - positiveLa Promesse en Fumée / A Promise on Fire, Supported by UBS - picture - negative
La Promesse en Fumée/
A Promise on Fire
Supported by UBS
Medium: Modern Corporate Promises on Tissue
UBS this year pulled away from the Net-Zero Banking Alliance, a coalition of organizations against climate change, signaling a move away from climate and toward profit.
Just four years after co-founding the climate-conscious Net-Zero Banking Alliance, UBS is now making a hasty exit with vague mentions of an “orderly transition.”

With this piece of surrealist art, a spotlight is shone on the incongruence of what the bank says it does ("unchanged commitment to sustainability") and its actions (breaking its previous commitment to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2025).

Featuring a typical banker, this piece is best understood against a backdrop of UBS acquisition of discredited Credit Suisse to highlight a change of public positioning: from striving to earn back trust, and talking about sustainability, into a retreat from its own promises.
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Awaiting appraisal
Ticking Time Bomb, Supported by UBS - picture - positiveTicking Time Bomb, Supported by UBS - picture - negative
Ticking Time Bomb
Supported by UBS
Medium: Volatility & Stranded Capital
The artwork questions UBS’s risky investments in LNG. Are LNG-linked bonds a "ticking time bomb” of stranded assets?
With a 65 billion m3 drop in Asian LNG demand forecasts from 2024, a looming threat of US$1 trillion in stranded assets globally, and including US$96.7 billion in proposed Southeast Asian LNG infrastructure at risk of being cancelled or underutilized, this question is apt.

In fact, unaffordably high LNG prices have already driven down demand in key Asian markets. These numbers show the risk of stranded assets due to volatile demand is far from imagined.

Yet UBS continues to actively fund LNG and fossil fuel expansion. By acting as a major investor in bonds for San Miguel, UBS provides vital capital that directly enables the company to move forward with its risky LNG projects in the Philippines. This investment in bonds is a well-established way of providing the financial support these projects need to proceed.
Read the real story.
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Exhibition Reviews
“Thailand has long had energy problems, but telling the truth means risking getting sued. But if we don’t speak up today, this problem will not get solved and the public will not benefit at all.”
Supachot Chaiyasat
Energy Expert & Member of Parliament, People's Party, Thailand
“By holding JBIC’s bonds, UBS is a part of egregious human rights violations and corruptions of numerous fossil projects financed by JBIC.”
Hiroki Osada
Friends of the Earth (FOE), Japan
“UBS continues to profit from fossil fuel expansion and the escalating climate crisis. Its recent exit from the NZBA [Net-Zero Banking Alliance] shows why fossil finance must finally be regulated.”
Johanna Frühwald
Finance Campaigner, Urgewald
“UBS's blind and stubborn support for the highly risky LNG boom in Asia demonstrates that the group urgently needs to be strictly regulated.”
BreakFree Suisse
"Financial institutions must halt new fossil fuel investments and redirect finance toward renewable energy at the scale demanded by the climate crisis.”
Gerry Arances
Executive Director,
Center for Energy, Ecology, and Development (CEED)
“As Gulf faces SLAPP lawsuit concerns, UBS, its second-largest shareholder, should reconsider its involvement and divest from any new fossil fuel financing projects in Thailand.”
Fossil Free Thailand
Notice to UBS
Photo of the potesters agains UBS
UBS faces an urgent imperative to divest from liquefied natural gas (LNG) expansion in Southeast Asia.

‍The bank's continued financing raises questions about its stated commitments to human rights,governance, biodiversity, and climate action, while contributing to projects tainted with allegations of community harms, environmental destruction, and attempts at authoritarian repression. Communities across the world are actively exposing how UBS-backed projects threaten their livelihoods, silence dissent, and undermine democratic and ecological transparency across the region.
There is a clear moral imperative: UBS cannot continue to profit from harm while promoting sustainability. From the Verde Island Passage to the Gulf of Thailand, real people are paying the price for decisions made in UBS boardrooms. This ongoing involvement is already eroding the bank's net-zero credibility, has weakened its climate commitments, and broadened the gap between its words and reality.
The financial risks are mounting, as LNG is no longer a safe bet. With the ICJ’s landmark advisory opinion, UBS faces reputational damage, stranded assets, and increased financing risk in fossil fuel projects as global markets pivot towards renewables. Business leaders are advocating a swift end to fossil fuel investments for long-term competitiveness. UBS must divest from gas developers, stop underwriting LNG bonds, and align its portfolio with a just, renewable energy future.
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