Press Release: UBS urged to stop investing in Japan export credit bank
Press Release: UBS urged to stop investing in Japan export credit bank
September 16, 2025
Civil society across the world is urging Swiss banking giant UBS to stop purchasing new bonds issued by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC). In a letter, groups detail JBIC’s financing of several fossil fuel projects across Asia and beyond that have caused significant harm to local communities and the environment.
Data collected by the Japan Center for a Sustainable Environment and Society (JACSES) shows that UBS holds USD 26.7 million worth of JBIC bonds as of August 2025, which has enabled projects that are associated with corruption, human rights violations, and environmental damage.
“Despite the significant impacts caused by climate change around the world, including heatwaves, extreme weather events, and sea level rise, the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), a Japanese public financial institution, continues to provide substantial support for new fossil fuel projects, in direct contradiction to the 1.5°C goal of the Paris Agreement. The fossil fuel projects financed by JBIC violated domestic laws and international human rights norms, triggering local communities and civil societies to consistently raise their voices to resist the projects,” the letter reads.
The letter highlights JBIC-financed projects including: Cirebon coal power plants in Indonesia, which have caused significant impacts on local health and livelihoods, Linseed LNG terminal in the Philippines, where even JBIC examiners acknowledged local legal violations, Mozambique LNG project, directly linked to human rights violations, Barossa gas field in Australia, which failed to obtain free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC) from affected Indigenous communities, and Trafigura in Singapore, a company with a history of bribery risks.
The letter was signed by BreakFree Suisse, Center for Energy, Ecology, and Development, Energy Shift Southeast Asia, Fossil Free Thailand, Friends of the Earth Japan, Japan Center for a Sustainable Environment and Society, Jubilee Australia Research Centre, Mekong Watch, Oil Change International, Solutions for our Climate (SFOC), WALHI (Wahana Lingkungan Hidup Indonesia), and others. Several groups from Australia, Japan, Thailand, and the Philippines joined in a photo action to call out UBS for its financing of fossil fuels.
The groups urged UBS to stop purchasing bonds from JBIC, which are directly financing projects that have led to human rights violations and a failure to comply with even JBIC’s own guidelines.
To date, no response has been received from UBS.
Contact: Marika Kita, JACSES, kita@jacses.org
