(Wednesday 15th February) Today, Barclays published its annual report, where it committed to new restrictions on oil sands, following a long-term campaign from shareholders on the issue.

From July, the bank will not directly finance new oil sands exploration, production, or processing and restricts finance to companies that generate more than 10 per cent of their revenues from these activities. Barclays will also not directly finance new oil sands pipelines but could still finance companies that own and operate such pipelines.

Commenting on the report, Jeanne Martin, Head of Banking Programme at ShareAction said:

“Barclays has taken an encouraging step forward today in tightening its restrictions around oil sands finance, after years of investors pushing for change on the issue.

“Disappointingly, despite not having published a new oil and gas policy for the last three years, the bank’s fracking policy remains unchanged and there is no mention of new oil and gas. This means Barclays continues to be out of step with current minimum standards of ambition within the industry.

Click for the full article at ShareAction

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *