Climate campaigners have sent a spoof Valentine’s Day card to the Barclays in Elephant and Castle, calling on the bank to stop investing in fossil fuels.
The card, which was delivered this morning by Fossil Free London (FFL), gave Britain’s fourth-largest bank an ultimatum: “it’s us or the fossil fuels.”
The environmental group wants Barclays to stop funding coal, oil and gas projects, which are a major contributor to climate change.
“It’s time Barclays dumped those oily executives for the love of our planet,” said Joanna Warrington, a spokeswoman for FFL.
“Barclays need to stop gaslighting the public with empty promises of sustainability while at the same time splashing out billions on the executives of Exxon Mobile,” she added.
Barclays is reported to be one of the biggest financier of fossil fuels in Europe, having invested more than £100 billion in them since 2015.
Cards were also delivered to Barclays branches in Hampstead and Whitechapel.
FFL, who say they “exist to make our city as inhospitable as possible for the fossil fuel industry,” promised “a massive year of protest” to raise public awareness of the links between British banks and the climate crisis.
They hoped that following their stunt Barclays would use its annual general meeting in May to commit to no longer funding coal, oil and gas projects.
“We face a climate emergency,” said Warrington. “Barclays is bankrolling the climate crisis for short-term profit.”
Europe’s biggest banks led by HSBC, Barclays and BNP Paribas have given £24 billion to oil and gas companies which are expanding production, less than a year since pledging to net-zero carbon emissions, a report by ShareAction shows.
Keeping oil and gas in the ground is an essential part of stopping the climate crisis.
Last May the International Energy Agency said no new oil and gas fields should be exploited to give the world a chance of avoiding catastrophic global heating of more than 1.5C.
“We are aligning our entire financing portfolio to support the goals of the Paris Agreement – significantly scaling up green financing, directly investing in new green technologies and helping clients in key sectors change their business models to reduce their climate change impact,” said a Barclays spokesperson.
“By 2025, we will reduce the emissions intensity of our power portfolio by 30%, and reduce absolute emissions of our energy portfolio by 15%. Increasing at pace, Barclays has already facilitated £46bn of green finance.”
They added: “We are one of the only banks globally investing our own capital – £175m – into innovative, green start-ups. By deploying finance in this way, we are accelerating the transition to a low-carbon economy and will become a net-zero bank by 2050.”