Barclays bank 'stops directly financing' new oil and gas projects
It is the UK's largest lender to the oil and gas industry. The Barclays bank announced this Friday that it would suspend all its financing for new oil and gas deposits. A new policy which also targets the most polluting companies.
A Barclays bank building in London, Great Britain. The British bank announced on February 9, 2024 that it would “stop directly financing” new oil and gas projects. REUTERS - Stefan Wermuth
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Next year, Barclays wants to “restrict” its loans to clients engaged in hydrocarbon expansion. “
We expect transition plans or decarbonization strategies from them by next January
,” announces the group, which sets, for example, a requirement for its clients in the sector. That of short-term carbon neutrality within two years.
A symbolic measure since loans granted to the oil and gas industry by Barclays represent only 2% of its total activities, just under $5 billion last year.
The measure is also contested by environmental NGOs who protest that it does not apply to already existing projects.
The British bank is not the only one to want to cut off the tap to the hydrocarbon industry, at least in part. Recently,
HSBC and BNP Paribas
have also unveiled such plans and promised to finance more renewable energies.
Read alsoClimate: Barclays bank singled out for its financing of fossil fuels
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