Shareholders grill Barclays over climate, Gaza war at AGM

Shareholders have denounced Barclays for fossil fuel financing at the British bank's annual general meeting, which also saw pro-Palestinian activists urge it to stop bankrolling arms in the Israeli war on Gaza.

The meeting on Thursday saw about 30 demonstrators outside the venue in Glasgow carrying Palestinian flags and child-sized coffins calling for an immediate ceasefire.

Others criticised what they said were "climate crimes" and demanded an end to "financing fossil fuels".

In a letter, shareholders from the ShareAction group, which claims to be a "responsible investment" association, called on the bank to stop financing fracking.

Hydraulic fracturing is a method used to extract natural gas and oil from deep rock formations, and is considered hazardous for the environment by climate activists.

The letter, written on behalf of "investors worth $1.24 trillion in assets under management", is asking Barclays to "commit to explicit restrictions on financing companies which are exclusively focused on fossil fuel extraction".

The group also calls on the bank to "make its fracking policy global to cover North America".

Barclays is regularly singled out by environmental defenders as one of the main hydrocarbon-financing banks in Europe.

In January, the European Central Bank said most major banks under its supervision had not yet brought their credit policies in line with the Paris climate agreement, exposing themselves to high transition risks.