CLIMATE activists staged a demonstration outside a Barclays branch in the city centre to protest against the bank's funding of fossils fuel projects.

Extinction Rebellion York protested outside the Barclays branch in Parliament Street at 12pm today (November 14), claiming that the bank finances the use of fossil fuels and the burning of trees.

Members handed out leaflets to advise the public to switch their bank, held up signs with messages such as: 'Barclays - stop funding climate chaos', and announced information to the public through a megaphone.

Adam, a spokesperson for Extinction Rebellion York, said: "Of all the banks in Europe, Barclays is the seventh biggest invester in fossil fuels and the biggest in Britain, so we're trying to bring attention to that as part of a European widespread protest against Barclays.

"The figures are astronomical, between 2015 to 2021 they put $160 billion into fossil fuels worldwide, and $2bn of that was drilling in the Arctic.

"They invest in industries that will kill their customers -  taking their money and investing in industries that destroy the planet.

"The power station Drax, who are the UK's biggest emitter of CO2, burns trees to generate electricity - and guess who finances their expansion across the world?

"We're trying to say to Barclays directly: stop. Barclays does a lot of 'green-washing' - they make green promises in their PR material to seem like they're investing in a lot but its a tiny amount, and we want them to live up to what they promise."

The Press has approached Drax for comment.

A Barclays spokesperson said: "We are determined to play our part in addressing the urgent and complex challenge of climate change.

"In March 2020 we were one of the first banks to set an ambition to become net zero by 2050, across all of our direct and indirect emissions, and we committed to align all of our financing activities with the goals and timelines of the Paris Agreement.

"We have a three-part strategy to turn that ambition into action: achieving net zero operations, reducing our financed emissions, and financing the transition.

"We have set 2030 targets to reduce our financed emissions in four of the highest emitting sectors in our financing portfolio, with additional 2025 targets for the two highest-emitting sectors – energy and power.

"We have also provided over £80bn of green financing and we are investing £175 million into innovative, green start-ups.”