By Denis Balibouse
ZURICH (Reuters) -Wielding brooms and carrying cleaning supplies, a group of activists symbolically cleaned the facade of a branch of Swiss bank UBS in Zurich on Wednesday to protest against its fossil fuel investments.
Anais Tilquin was among the 20 activists from Scientist Rebellion, an international environmentalist group calling for immediate action against climate change, to take part in the protest in Switzerland's financial hub.
"I came here today to clean this bank, UBS, which is absolutely disgusting," said Tilquin, wearing a white lab coat as she scrubbed down the bank's logo with a sponge.
"We absolutely need to stop using fossil fuel as quickly as possible. Right now, these banks like UBS are still financing the extraction of new oil and gas and the expansion of new oil and gas all the time."
The group accuses the bank, which took over its rival Credit Suisse (SIX:CSGN) as part of a deal orchestrated by the Swiss government in March, of annually investing 5 billion Swiss francs ($5.6 billion) into fossil fuels.
UBS declined to comment.
Last year the bank said it aimed to cut its financing of fossil fuel emissions by more than two-thirds by 2030 and aims to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
"Switzerland should start investing only in renewable energy, draw a real plan how to get rid of fossil fuels and also, in this case ... stop helping these banks," said activist and neurobiologist Jan Wintgens, referring to UBS's takeover of Credit Suisse.
Other activists, also wearing lab coats, held signs that read "The Science is clear, why are we ignoring it?" and "Investments + Fossil fuels = climate catastrophe".
"We need to act like this is an emergency, because it's a life and death situation now," Tilquin said.