Charity said it has done the right thing

One of the UK’s biggest interntional development charities is to ditch Barclays for its financial services due to its backing of fossil fuels.

Oxfam GB has been using Barclay’s services for about 15 years and said it had been mulling over the decision for some time.

However it wrote to Barclays in December to say it would stop using its foreign exchange services with immediate effect and to give it notice that it would withdraw all funds held with it. 

Barclays spent about £150bn financing fossil fuels between 2016 and 2022. 

An Oxfam GB spokesperson said: “Through our work with communities around the world, we see firsthand the injustice of the climate crisis which is destroying homes, livelihoods and lives on an unprecedented scale. 

“We decided that the extent of Barclays’ continued financing of fossil fuels was such that, where possible, we should move our business elsewhere.”  

The charity said that for the time being it would continue to use Barclays for processing retail sales made online, in its shops and at festivals. 

Barclays is one of the biggest banks in Britain with 24 million customers. It has announced its intention to be “a net zero bank by 2050” and has pledged to provide $1 trillion of what it called “sustainable and transition financing” by 2030.

A Barclays spokesman said: “Barclays has reduced its financed emissions of the energy sector by 32% since 2020, which exceeds our 2025 target. We are committed to financing the energy transition, investing in the climate technologies required to build low-carbon capacity as we support those clients investing to achieve net zero.