Claim bank is responsible for ecocide due to fossil fuel investment


Extinction Rebellion Putney demonstrates outside Barclays

A demonstration was held by members of Extinction Rebellion Putney (XR) outside the Barclays Bank branch on the High Street this Thursday (22 October).

They assembled outside the bank on 11am and passed out flyers designed to look like £10 notes and encouraged people to share the Sharklay’s website which details the institution’s alleged crimes including what XR describe as ecocide.

It was claimed that the bank is Europe’s biggest investor in the fossil fuel industry which is contributing to accelerated man made climate change.

Other accusations made against the company were that it was capitalised with profits from the slave trade and was one of the last banks supporting apartheid,

“Moving our bank accounts to an ethical bank such as Triodos, Cooperative and Nationwide is one of the easiest but most effective things we can do, choking off the supply of dirty cash to fossil fuel extraction,’ says local resident and XR member Gemma Abel. ‘These fantastically wealthy corporations are just using us for our own hard-earned savings!”

XR is seeking to force Barclays to disinvest from fossil fuels. It launched the campaign - Sharklays.co.uk – on 6 July with a ‘crime scene’ action outside Barclays’ Canary Wharf headquarters. This was supported by an alliance of finance campaign groups including Urgewald and Stop Ecocide.

A Barclays spokesperson said, “We want to take a leading role in tackling climate change as we recognise that it is one of the greatest challenges facing the world today. Our ambition is to become a net zero bank by 2050, and we’ve made a firm commitment to align our entire financing portfolio to the goals of the Paris Agreement. That means our own operations, and the financing we do for our clients, in every sector, will support the transition towards a low-carbon economy.”

October 23, 2020