“Money is the oxygen on which the fire of global warming burns.” Bill McKibben

And, as Archbishop Desmond Tutu reminds us: “Just as we argued in the 1980s that those who conducted business with apartheid South Africa were aiding and abetting an immoral system, we can say that nobody should profit from the rising temperatures, seas and human suffering caused by the burning of fossil fuels.”

Barclays lent fossil fuel companies almost £91 billion between the end of 2015, when the Paris Agreement was signed, and 2019. This makes them the 7th worst bank in the world and the worst in Europe on the rankings. Their annual fossil fuel financing rose between 2018 and 2019.

HSBC ranks 12th globally, with £67 billion of support for the industry. It continues to pursue financing a coal power plant in Vietnam and port-dredging in Bangladesh that will allow more coal imports despite projections that, from 2030, around 70,000 people could die every year due to coal power pollution across South East Asia. HSBC’s annual fossil fuel financing also rose between 2018 and 2019

It’s no coincidence that these banks are also funding the activities of major agribusiness firms that are destroying ecosystems across the world.

We need to take action to banks hold those responsible accountable for what they are doing and pushes them to stop funding climate destruction. On Holy Thursday, we encourage CCA local groups to join with Climate activists across the world, to use Extinction Rebellion’s Money Rebellion toolkit to enable each of us to take action in service to God’s Creation. We encourage local CCA groups.

Access the Money Rebellion Toolkit

Sources: Funding Climate Chaos, Banking on Climate Change and http://www.cityam.com/barclays-fossil-fuel-financing-increases-despite-net-zero-pledge