Divest Fossil Fuels

XRSL are campaigning for Barclays to clean up their act

Expansion of fossil fuel extraction amounts to guaranteed catastrophic world temperature rises, yet mainstream banks around the world continue to invest in our destruction. Since the Paris climate agreement in 2015, where the world agreed to avert the worst effects of climate breakdown, the world’s top banks have poured $1.9 trillion into fossil fuel financing*. And that’s not even counting their 2019 investments which are still being calculated.*

Activists dressed as cleaners, and surrounded by buckets and mops, pretend to be cleaning the solid stone exterior of Barclays Bank in Kendal. A large placard placed below the cash machine says "Are your £££ being used to destroy the earth? - Ditch Barclays - www.switchit.money"

Activists dressed as cleaners, and surrounded by buckets and mops, pretend to be cleaning the solid stone exterior of Barclays Bank in Kendal. One is holding a placard that says "Extinction Rebellion bank cleaning service".

A couple of placards are propped up against cleaning buckets on the pavement outside Barclays bank in Kendal. One sign says "Extinction Rebellion bank cleaning service" whilst another says "Switch-it: Stop the dirty banks like Barclays investing in fossil fuels; SWITCH to a cleaner bank / building society; Log on to https://switchit.money". A cleaning fluid bottle next to one of the buckets is marked "Turd Polish (You can!)"

Activists dressed as cleaners, and surrounded by buckets and mops, pretend to be cleaning the solid stone exterior of Barclays Bank in Kendal. Some are holding placards. The nearest says "Extinction Rebellion bank cleaning service".

Why Barclays?

Barclays is the worst bank for investing in fossil fuels, not just in the UK but in the whole of Europe. Across the world, Barclays are 6th worst in terms of banks investing in fossil fuel since the Paris climate accord (2015). But you can’t rest easy with any of the other high street banks either.

There is something that you can do NOW!

Whether you bank with Barclays or one of the other destructive banks (HSBC, Lloyds, NatWest etc) you can create real pressure for change by abandoning them. Switch to a bank that cares about our future.

The good people at https://www.switchit.green/ can tell you how.

Done that? Maybe you can get your pension out of fossil fuels too? In that case https://shareaction.org/pensions/take-action/ have good advice.

Other campaigns:

Banktrack have a wealth of information about financial activities, and also this campaign on fossil fuel financing

Greenpeace have carried out many actions on Barclays. This blog explains

People & Planet

Rain Forest Action Network have produced a report “Banking On Climate Change“

XR UK “Sharkleys” Campaign

Further information:

Failure to Transition report – Greenpeace/BankTrack May 2019 – How Barclays’ 2019 Energy and Climate Change Statement fails to address climate risk
The majority of fossil fuel reserves are un-burnable if the world is to avoid dangerous climate change – https://www.carbonbrief.org/study-most-fossil-fuels-unburnable-without-ccs
The geographical distribution of fossil fuels unused when limiting global warming to 2 °c – https://www.nature.com/articles/nature14016