The UK government’s decision to approve Shell’s development of the controversial Jackdaw gas field has thrown the company’s financers into the spotlight. The IEA has made clear that no such developments of new fossil fuel resources should be undertaken, to avoid critical levels of global warming. Barclays – one of Shell’s largest financers in the previous five years – claims it will comply with the IEA pathway, but not until 2030. Nothing in Barclays’ policies precludes continuing to help Shell expand fossil fuel reserves in the meantime.
Along with other Shell financers, Barclays has received a letter from a coalition of climate organisations urging it to rule out direct finance for Jackdaw, to press Shell to abandon the project, and to cut ties with Shell if it proceeds. Co-ordinated protests (like the one above in Bangor) outside Barclays branches have highlighted its connections to Shell and how Jackdaw would accelerate climate change even further, recognized as threatening “humanity’s very survival”.
While Jackdaw itself may yet be halted by a legal challenge from Greenpeace, pressure on Barclays to review its relationships with fossil fuel companies is only likely to increase, given that the bumper profits those companies are experiencing are being poured into yet more climate-wrecking new fields.
