Local climate change activists target Barclays, Europe’s largest investor in new fossil fuels

Activists from Extinction Rebellion held a mock funeral procession outside the Barclays bank in Rochdale town centre on Monday (14 November).

The group – made up of protestors from Rochdale, Littleborough, Bury and Bolton – gathered in a mock funeral procession, dressed in black, walking through the town, in silent lament, with a mournful drummer leading the procession.

Extinction Rebellion has targeted Barclays in the past, criticising the bank for financing fossil fuel companies.

Reports by climate finance campaigners say Barclays is the UK and Europe’s biggest investor in fossil fuel projects, and the world’s seventh-biggest fossil fuel funder, despite the International Energy Agency (IEA) saying “there is no need for investment in new fossil fuel supply.”

 

Read more: Extinction Rebellion Rochdale hold ‘memorial’ for those killed by climate change outside BarclaysPublished: 03 November 2021
Activists vandalise Barclays bank and MP’s office with messages demanding action on climate crisisPublished: 24 March 2021

 

This local action forms part of a national campaign, with thousands of protestors gathering at 110 Barclays banks across the UK.

The week-long protest follows Barclays' announcement of much higher than expected pre-tax profits for the quarter of nearly £2bn.

Higher interest rates have helped increase Barclays’ profits, whilst the cost of living over the same period has soared.

 

 

Protester Wendy Maycraft said: “The International Energy Authority says there can be no new investment in new fossil fuels if we are to have any chance of stopping dangerously high temperatures.

“It’s crystal clear: these investments have to stop and stop now.”

Protester Pat Sanchez, 82 years, from Littleborough, added: “I’m driven to protest because I cannot bear the thought of the conditions our grandchildren-and theirs - will endure, the floods, fires, food shortages.

“I cannot bear to see the money spent in this way when it could be spent on the transition to clean, green energy which would bring new jobs and the possibility of a liveable future for all.”

Revd Mark Coleman, the previous vicar of Rochdale who retired in 2022, took part in the procession, wearing a black cassock.

He said: “I have officiated at many very sad funerals in my time as a priest. The level of death and destruction brought about by Barclays investments is horrific. When I think of what’s coming down the line, I am heartbroken.

“Does Barclays not care?”

 

 

This April the United Nations reported that the world is on a “fast track” to disaster, and scientists warned it is “now or never” to limit warming to 1.5 C degrees. This summer the UK recorded its hottest-ever temperature and there were three times the usual number of wildfires.

Drought conditions across the UK are set to continue into 2023. Just this week the UN Secretary General, António Guterres, warned: “We are on a highway to climate hell with our foot still on the accelerator.”

Responding, a Barclays spokesperson said: “We are determined to play our part in addressing the urgent and complex challenge of climate change.

“In March 2020 we were one of the first banks to set an ambition to become net zero by 2050, across all of our direct and indirect emissions, and we committed to align all of our financing activities with the goals and timelines of the Paris Agreement.

“We have a three-part strategy to turn that ambition into action: achieving net zero operations, reducing our financed emissions, and financing the transition. In practice, this means we have set 2030 targets to reduce our financed emissions in four of the highest emitting sectors in our financing portfolio, with additional 2025 targets for the two highest-emitting sectors – energy and power.

“We have also provided over £80bn of green financing and we are investing our own capital – £175m – into innovative, green start-ups.”