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Amidst reports that Barclays is funding companies contributing to climate change, Greenpeace activists are calling on the bank to stop providing these firms with billions every year.
Almost 100 branches of Barclays around the UK were unable to open for business this Monday as Greenpeace campaigners obstructed the entrances in protest of the bank’s involvement with fossil fuel companies.
Installing pop-up exhibitions and photographs at every doorway, the environmental activists made it their mission to draw attention to Barclay’s support towards companies and projects inconsistent with the Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius and averting the worst effects of climate breakdown.
Images of people displaying slogans like ‘Stop Funding Fossil Fuels’ also obscured the windows, blocking entry to major locations in London, Cardiff, Edinburgh, and Manchester.
Whether it’s drilling for oil, clearing forests, or violating human rights, according to the organisation, Barclays is one of the top ‘climate villains’ in the world. ‘Banks are just as guilty for the destruction of our climate as the fossil fuel companies that they fund,’ says campaigner Florence Stuart-Leach. ‘They’ve poured $1.9 trillion into fossil fuel financing. And that’s not even counting their 2019 investments which are still being calculated.’
Morten Thaysen, climate finance campaigner at Greenpeace UK wants to see banks moving their money out of fossil fuels and using it to support real climate change solutions instead. Stressing that Barclays is just one of many conglomerates to have so far escaped any scrutiny regarding its inaction, Thaysen is highlighting its responsibility in bankrolling the current emergency. ‘It’s time Barclays pulled the plug and backed away from funding fossil fuels for good,’ he says. ‘That’s why we’ve taken action.’
Barclays is working overtime to get the affected branches back up and running but if Greenpeace has anything to do with it, that won’t be any time soon.
