Extinction Rebellion 'rebrands' Balham Barclays branch

Barclays branches in Balham and Wandsworth borough were covered in stickers and posters on Sunday 22 November by members of Extinction Rebellion protesting at the bank's funding of fossil fuels and biodiversity loss.

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This was part of an action that took place across the UK. The posters drew attention to Barclays' funding of fossil fuel extracting companies like Adani, who are building a controversial coal mine in Australia.

Barclays has been the number one European funder of fossil fuels in the last four years, according to a recent report by the Rainforest Action Network, having provided $118 billion (£95.2 billion) to carbon-intensive companies and projects since the Paris Agreement was signed in 2016.

A recent report has also cited Barclays as the number two European bank for funding biodiversity loss.

Extinction Rebellion spokesperson Rob Wheeldon said: "David Attenborough warned us last month that capitalism is literally destroying life on Earth, and banks like Barclays and HSBC are among the worst culprits."

In May of this year, Barclays announced it would shrink its carbon footprint to net zero by 2050. However, the bank been criticised for setting distant deadlines and for a lack of detail in its pledges, and for failing to make clear commitments regarding the biodiversity impacts of its lending activities.

"We demand that Barclays completely divests from fossil fuels and halt its destruction of nature by 2025 at the latest. 2050 is a death sentence for our planet," said Extinction Rebellion Wandsworth member Caroline Hartnell.

Government bodies including the Treasury and Bank of England have a regulatory role for the private banking sector. However, the Committee on Climate Change, the government's official climate advisers, reported in June that the UK was on track to meet only 6 out of 53 indicators and milestones needed to reach net zero emissions by 2050.

The Committee advised all government departments to prepare for "a minimum of 2C rise in global temperature with considerations of 4C". Among other catastrophic impacts, 4C global heating would likely force humans away from equatorial regions, expand deserts into southern and central Europe, and intensify the unprecedented fires, floods and hurricanes already wreaking havoc across the world.

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