Celebrity-led campaign from Make My Money Matter criticises high street banks' continued investment in fossil fuels
UK high street banks have come under fire for continuing to finance fossil fuel expansion across new oil, gas, and coal projects from a new celebrity-led campaign that urges their customers to switch provider if they discover their bank is funding new fossil fuel projects.
Campaign group Make My Money Matter has today published an open letter to the chief executives of HSBC, Barclays, Santander, NatWest, and Lloyds asking them to stop financing fossil fuel expansion.
According to a study by Rainforest Action Network between 2016 and 2021 HSBC, Barclays, Santander, NatWest, and Lloyds invested around $368bn in the fossil fuel industry. During this period the banks financed the 50 largest oil and gas expanders globally to the tune of $141bn.
Over the five year period HSBC was found to have invested the most in fossil fuel projects, with a total of $59.1bn funnelled into the sector, according to ShareAction's Oil and Gas Expansion Report.
Barclays came out as the second-largest investor, committing $48.3bn to fossil fuel finance during the period. Santander came in third, investing $23.4bn, followed by Lloyds with $5.9bn and NatWest with $4.4bn.
The campaigners argued that the banks proceeded with these investments despite clear guidance from the International Energy Agency (IEA) that new oil and gas fields should cease to be developed if global warming is to be limited to below 1.5C.
While the campaigners said they recognise that some fossil fuels will be required over the coming years as the world transitions to a low carbon economy, they have called on UK banks to take a three-step approach to ending the financing of new fossil fuel expansion.
It argues banks should stop directly financing new fossil expansion activity, put existing clients on notice that they must stop their expansion plans or face financing consequences, and ultimately end relationships with clients who do not stop fossil fuel expansion.
Campaigners acknowledged that there had recently been some announcements on stopping direct finance for fossil fuel expansion projects from HSBC and Lloyds, but they stressed there was "a long way to go" to bring the industry into line with its stated climate goals.
Almost one third - or 29 per cent - of the banking customers surveyed as part of the campaign said they would switch banks if they discovered that their provider was financing fossil fuel expansion. A further 86 per cent of respondents said they thought their bank was not doing enough to tackle the climate crisis. The survey also found that 77 per cent of customers had no idea that their bank was financing fossil fuel expansion.
This is the second time this week the banking sector has been called out for fossil fuel financing. A separate study published earlier this week unveiled similarly shocking statistics, revealing that only seven per cent of global bank's energy financing went to renewables over the past six years.
The Make My Money Matter campaign is run by filmmaker and activist Richard Curtis and has been signed by businesses, activists, and charities including Just Stop Oil, Greenpeace UK, Save the Children UK and Ecotricity.
Richard Curtis warned that leading banks were in a "dangerous relationship" with the fossil fuel industry.
"It's time for the banks to listen to the scientists who are telling us over and over again how urgently we need to act - to respond to their customers who want their money to matter - and to mobilise the billions at their disposal in defence of the planet, not in support of its destruction," he added.
Greenpeace UK's executive director Areeba Hamid accused the UK's top banks of "providing billions to make the climate emergency worse".
"If you want to get out of a hole, stop digging," she said. "Banks need to just say no to funding fossil fuel expansion now - and the UK Government needs to make alignment with the goals of the Paris Agreement mandatory for all financial institutions."
The Make My Money Matter Campaign, which is also supported by celebrities including Stephen Fry and Emma Thompson, is inviting individuals to sign the open letter and commit to switch to a bank which does not finance fossil fuel projects if they have not done so already.
