On Thursday, May 2nd, I joined a group of students from Oxford on an early train to London. Dressed in our best corporate attire, we used shares proxied by a supportive NGO to enter the Barclays Annual General Meeting. When in his opening speech, Chief Executive Jes Staley brought up climate change, that was our cue. “Tell the truth!”, we shouted, standing as security swarmed around us. “Barclays banks climate chaos!”
Reckless bankers
In response to a growing wave of protest, Barclays management is trying to clean up its image. But according to a recent report by BankTrack, Barclays lends more money to fossil fuel companies than any other European bank, as “the top European banker of fracking and coal”.
Barclays also tops other European banks in funding for fossil fuel expansion, as in, the exploration and development of new fossil fuel reserves. But most existing reserves—an estimated 82 percent –must stay underground to avoid warming of over 2C. To meet the internationally recognised 1.5C target, we can afford to burn even less.
