Immediate release
Photographs and video of the action available here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1PcHxHctGK2NDitN__GYywpQKUgRSVwXU?usp=sharing (Please credit Fossil Free London)
Photos of Christians involved available here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1IBD9iMP3lAV4AqnlH99zgQj9ID1JBepR?usp=sharing (No credit needed)
Contact: christianclimateaction@gmail.com
Today, Thursday 9th May, campaigners, including Christians, sent Barclays annual shareholder meeting into chaos. They were calling out the bank’s large investments in fossil fuel companies and also investments in arms, currently being used to bomb Gaza. The protest took place at the SEC, Glasgow, which was the AGM meeting venue.
There were at least half a dozen Christians who took part in the protest, as part of a group called Christian Climate Action. Christian Climate Action members disrupted the AGM alongside Fossil Free London, Extinction Rebellion Glasgow, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and more. There was a crowd of protestors outside of the meeting venue, and inside the AGM Christians were amongst those, who stood up and disrupted proceedings by reading impromptu speeches urging Barclays to make the changes needed. Banners were held, which read ‘Barclays funds bombs and big oil’.
The disruption comes as 2023 was marked as the hottest year ever recorded on Earth, smashing scientists predictions (1) and the death toll of Palestinians in Gaza now reaches over 34,000, and UN experts have described the scenes in Gaza as “apocalyptic” (2).
Barclays is the number one European bank financing fossil fuels since the Paris Agreement, investing over $190 billion into fossil fuels from 2016-2022. Barclays is also a major funder of the UK’s single largest carbon emitter and the world’s biggest tree burner, Drax (3). Whilst Barclays committed to stop financing new oil & gas expansion ‘projects’ in a renewed energy policy in February, this restricts just 10% of their fossil fuel funding. Campaigners have been quick to point out more loopholes in Barclays energy policy, as laid out in Share Action’s Report (4).
Rev Sue Parfitt, a retired vicar from Bristol, and Ruth Jarman, mother of 3 from Hampshire, are two Christians who stood up on their seats in the middle of the AGM and read out impromptu statements to the Barclays board. They were removed from the building by security.
Rev Sue Parfitt said: “Stop lying to your shareholders as you do in your Annual Report. It’s indefensible that you say you have stopped funding new fossil fuel projects while continuing to fund the very companies that are developing those projects. That is pure greenwash of the most disingenuous kind. You are deliberately misleading your shareholders and the public.”
The disruption of Barclays AGM comes at the same time as Christian Climate Action are campaigning to urge Christian organisations, including Churches, Cathedrals, Dioceses and Christian charities to drop Barclays and switch to a more ethical bank. Many organisations have already made the choice to drop Barclays, including Christian Aid, Greenbelt Festival, Sheffield Cathedral and more. This switch was due to Barclays being a key financer of fossil fuel companies and the bank having low ethical ratings across a range of areas (5)
Ruth Jarman said “Climate breakdown is not just happening, it is being funded. And it is being funded by you. I speak as a Christian and a mother.
“All your greenwashing means nothing if you continue to finance the companies that are digging up what we know, and what you know, will cause global food shortages, global conflict and render this beautiful world uninhabitable.
“The International Energy Agency has said there can be no new fossil fuels after 2021. Barclays is an important bank. What you do matters. Very few of the 8 billion people in this world have the power that you have to alter the chances for humanity and creation. Think of the children. Use your power for good. Stop funding climate breakdown.”
-ENDS-
SOURCES:
1. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/jan/12/2023-hottest-year-record-us-scientists
3. https://ember-climate.org/insights/research/drax-co2-emissions-biomass/
4. https://shareaction.org/reports/analysis-of-barclays-february-2024-energy-policy
5. Ethical Consumer. Which banks are good with money, 2023
Christian Climate Action 