Extinction Rebellion take mops and buckets into Barclays bank

The Extinction Rebellion demonstration, which began at 10am in Broad Street, aims to convince Barclays to stop financing projects which contribute to global warming.

The bank used $78bn (£66.4bn) between 2019 and the end of last year to finance companies in the fossil fuel industry, according to the Banking on Climate Chaos report, authored by the Rainforest Action Network, BankTrack and Oil Change International.

Reading XR activist Dani Esposito said: “We want a live-able and sustainable future. Scientists say we need to stop global over-heating but Barclays are going against everything scientists are saying.” 

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Barclays said they have provided £80bn of green financing and are investing £175m in green start-ups, though it is unclear over what period.

File photo of Extinction Rebellion in Barclays (Image: Extinction Rebellion)

A Barclays spokesperson said: “We are determined to play our part in addressing the urgent and complex challenge of climate change.

“In March 2020 we were one of the first banks to set an ambition to become net zero by 2050, across all of our direct and indirect emissions, and we committed to align all of our financing activities with the goals and timelines of the Paris Agreement.”

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They continued: “We have set 2030 targets to reduce our financed emissions in four of the highest emitting sectors in our financing portfolio, with additional 2025 targets for the two highest-emitting sectors – energy and power.”

The action in Reading is part of a national XR, with thousands of protesters gathering at 110 Barclays banks in the UK this week.

They are calling for customers to switch from Barclays to other UK banks, which they claim emit less carbon dioxide.