EXTINCTION Rebellion (XR) Scotland will protest against the finance sector this weekend with actions in Inverness, Dundee and Glasgow.
These actions mark week two of Make the Connections, a campaign highlighting the “collusion between Government, fossil fuels and finance in putting people before profit and wilfully ignoring the facts on climate change”.
XR Highlands and Islands will take their message to Barclays bank, demanding they clear up their act.
A statement from the group stated: “Look out for a large bath, a greedy bank manager and loadsa dirty money.
“Barclays is churning out the PR spin about its supposedly green investments, while trying to ignore the fact that it pumped almost 12 times as much money – £91 billion – into fossil fuel financing between 2016-19. That’s 36% more than any other bank in Europe.
“Barclays, this year, even blocked attempts by its own shareholders to cut fossil fuel investments.”
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XR Dundee will stage a theatrical, visual action outside the V&A in Dundee to protest Barclays sponsoring the Mary Quant exhibition being held there. The group says to expect 60s fashion and a lot of oil.
Anne Campbell, a retired midwife and a member of Extinction Rebellion in Dundee, said “Barclays is the biggest funder of fossil fuels in Europe.
“The V&A should not be accepting money from an organisation which is complicit in fuelling climate change.
“Barclays is using sponsorship of art and culture as a way of diverting attention away from the fact that they are profiting from an industry that is destroying our climate, making life unlivable for millions of people across the world, and threatening our whole planet with destruction.
“Bank financing for fossil fuels has increased since the United Nations Paris Agreement in 2016. This has to stop.”
XR Glasgow will be orchestrating a “climate crime scene” outside HSBC on Buchanan Street this afternoon.
Members of the groups will “die” in front of the branch, to demonstrate the ways in which HSBC is contributing to the climate and ecological emergency.
A “crime scene investigator” will examine the scene and share information on the bank’s crimes.
XR Glasgow said: “HSBC is the dirtiest bank in the world, investing more than $86bn (£66.6bn) a year in the fossil fuel industry.
“Since 2011 they have lent money to the Cerrejón coal mine in La Guajira, Colombia – an area already suffering from drought and poverty.
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“This is one of the biggest open pit coal mines in the world, and has led to local communities, including the indigenous Wayúu people, being forcibly relocated.
“They have provided $45 million (£34.8m) in bank guarantees throughout 2015 and 2016 to Adaro Energy, one of Indonesia’s biggest coal producers, and made billions available in loans.”
Skye Brettell, 23, a student and XR activist, said: “I cannot simply stand by anymore, pretending like this isn’t my problem. It is my problem, it’s everybody’s problem, because it’s our future we are destroying.
“We cannot afford to settle for HSBC and other companies and industries going carbon neutral by 2050 or some other distance way off in this future.
“We all need to act now or else it is too late”.
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