Barclays To End Financing Of New Oil, Gas Fields

Barclays announced that it will no longer provide direct funding for new oil and gas projects and will restrict lending to energy businesses planning to expand their fossil fuel production, according to Theo Leggett's report for BBC News.

The bank has been under pressure from environmental campaigners, shareholder activists, and celebrities to reduce its support for fossil fuels. I Photo: Dick Thomas Johnson Flickr

Barclays, a major lender to the fossil fuel industry, has faced mounting pressure to curb its support for the sector. While campaign groups welcomed the move, they insisted it did not go far enough.

The environmental group Rainforest Action Network noted that Barclays was the largest funder of the fossil fuel sector in Europe between 2016 and 2021, providing just under $16.5 billion (£13 billion) in 2022, significantly lower than previous years.

The bank has been under pressure from environmental campaigners, shareholder activists, and celebrities to reduce its support for fossil fuels.

Last year, a campaign group including actress Emma Thompson and film director Richard Curtis called on the All-England Lawn Tennis Club to remove Barclays as a sponsor of Wimbledon, alleging that the bank was "profiting from climate chaos."

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