An alliance of Christians including a former Archbishop of Canterbury and the Methodists have issued an ultimatum to the high street banks to stop financing new fossil fuel projects or risk losing their business.
The Times reports that a total of 71 Christian groups have signed up to a statement committing them to “consider alternative banking options wherever possible” unless their bank stops financing new fossil fuel projects including oil fields.
The signatories include the former archbishop Rowan Williams as well as Methodists, Quakers, eight Roman Catholic religious orders and the Scottish Episcopal Church, which together have 400,000 members.
Mr Williams said: “Banks are very understandably seen as institutions we need to be able to trust. What we are asking is that the main high street banks should show themselves to be fully worthy of that trust by playing their part in creating a future we can trust: a future in which our lethal dependence on fossil fuels will at last be put behind us.”
Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, NatWest and Santander have all received the ultimatum. An HSBC spokeswoman said: “We work with our clients to support their efforts to scale clean energy investment whilst meeting the energy needs of today. Our detailed approach to the energy transition is set out in our Net-Zero Transition Plan.”