A Christmas tree with melting ice cubes and baubles dripping with oil was carried into Lincoln’s branch of Barclays Bank over the weekend, as climate activists Extinction Rebellion held their ‘Christmas party’.
The Lincolnshire division of climate change activist group Extinction Rebellion have often targeted Lincoln High Street’s Barclays Bank for protests in recent months and years – claiming the bank has invested over £120 billion in new fossil fuel projects.
On Saturday, December 17, members of Extinction Rebellion held their ‘Christmas party’ at the bank, carrying a Christmas tree festooned with melting ice cubes and baubles dripping with oil into the main reception area of the building.
A Christmas tree was brought into the bank and ‘gifts’ were handed out to customers. | Photo: Lincoln XR
Customers were given warning cards by ‘The Christmas Fairy’, alleging that Barclays are contributing to crop failure, droughts and wild fires, while members of staff at the bank were given cards to say the action was not aimed at them, but Barclays itself.
The cards said that XR would take care not to inconvenience staff or customers, but criticism has been reserved for the group as staff members were required to clean up the mess left behind by the activists.
The ‘gifts’ had words such as “flood” and “drought”, blaming Barclays for allegedly contributing to climate change. | Photo: Lincoln XR
Rosemary Robinson explained why Barclays was targeted: “Barclays claims that it is operating in the best interests of its customers and the planet, but their fossil fuel investments go completely against all the scientific evidence.
“The Bank is the 7th largest global funder of tar sands and the biggest in Europe. In the five years after the Paris Agreement to phase out fossil fuels, Barclays invested over £120 billion in new projects.
“The science is quite clear: if we want a habitable planet for our children and grandchildren, there must be no more oil and gas exploration and extraction.”
The angel at the top of the tree was a melting Barclays Bank logo. | Photo: Lincoln XR
Outside the bank, Extinction Rebellion supporters were singing protest lyrics to the tunes of popular Christmas carols, again causing disruption for the bank.
Rosemary Robinson continues: “According to research, most Barclays customers are unaware that the bank funds fossil fuels, so we are hoping this light-hearted protest will raise customer awareness and motivate them to take action.
“People can often feel powerless against the banks, but if enough customers changed banks, Barclays would have to take notice and cease their destructive investments.
“Barclays have a choice: profits before people and the planet; or people and the planet before profits.”
| Photo: Lincoln XR
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.
“We have a three-part strategy to turn that ambition into action: achieving net zero operations, reducing our financed emissions, and financing the transition. In practice, this means 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.
We have also provided over £80bn of green financing and we are investing our own capital – £175m – into innovative, green start-ups.”
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