Extinction Rebellion Scotland to protest for end to fossil fuel funding by Barclays

Extinction Rebellion Scotland are protesting at Barclays, Glasgow to demand  Barclays end its funding of the fossil fuel industry.

Activists will assemble at Barclays’s new showpiece offices in Glasgow at Clyde Place Quay on Monday 14 November at 13:00 hrs.

The protest will feature speakers from Biofuelwatch, Tipping Point and Bank Track.

The protest is part of Extinction Rebellion’s UK-wide Better without Barclays campaign [1] of disruption.

Barclays is the biggest funder of fossil fuels in Europe and the 7th biggest funder of fossil fuels worldwide.[2] Barclays is also funding the proposed Rosebank Oil Field which will produce the equivalent CO2 emissions of 28 low-income countries combined.[3]

Sally Clark from Biofuelwatch said:

“Barclays is funding forest destruction, biodiversity loss, environmental injustice and climate-wrecking emissions through its investments in Drax which is the UK’s single largest carbon emitter and the world’s biggest tree burner. There is nothing green or renewable about Drax’s burning of trees from some of the world’s most biodiverse forests.

If we are to ensure we can have a future on a liveable planet, we urgently need to protect our forests, not burn them in power stations like Drax. It’s time for Barclays to stop investing in big polluters like Drax.”

Alex Cochrane from Extinction Rebellion Scotland said:

“Barclays are using our money to fund a climate catastrophe by investing in all kinds of dirty fuel projects. They are pilfering profit from a future of famine, displaced people and global suffering.

They are the biggest funders of fossil fuel in Europe and it’s total madness. We all know we need to wean ourselves off fossil fuels. We all know the climate crisis is already hitting us yet Barclays still refuses to do the right thing for us. We are protesting to call it out and demand they stop funding fossil fuels.”

About Barclays

Barclays is the 7th biggest funder of fossil fuels worldwide and Europe’s biggest: it has given US$ 166.741 billion to companies active across the fossil fuel life cycle in the period from 2016-2021, after the Paris Agreement was signed that demands urgent and drastic reductions in greenhouse gas emissions that arise from burning fossil fuels.

Source: Banking on Climate Chaos: Fossil Fuel Finance Report 2022

Barclays is funding forest destruction, biodiversity loss, environmental injustice and climate-wrecking emissions through its investments in Drax which is the UK’s single largest carbon emitter and the biggest wood-burning power station in the entire world.

Source: Biofuelwatch

Barclays are also funding the proposed Rosebank Oil Field by providing stakeholders Equinor with $2.46 billion of backing since 2015. Rosebank contains over 500 million barrels of oil, which if burned would produce the equivalent CO2 emissions of 28 low-income countries combined.

Source: World Bank: CO2 emissions – equivalent CO2 emissions of 28 low-income countries combined.

About Biofuelwatch

Biofuelwatch provides information and undertakes advocacy and campaigning in relation to the climate, environmental, human rights and public health impacts of large-scale industrial bioenergy.

About BankTrack

BankTrack is the international tracking, campaigning and NGO support organisation focused on banks and the activities they finance.

About Tipping Point

Tipping Point is a grassroots movement working on the principle that it only takes 3.5% of us to organise together to create unstoppable momentum for systemic change. They help people from all communities and backgrounds use their power and organise bold and regular action together to win change.