Major UK banks still funding oil conglomerate despite climate pledge
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Three of the UK's high street banks have been funding a large oil conglomerate with millions to pursue exploitative activities in the North Sea.
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The sign for a branch of HSBC in central London, Monday, November 2, 2015. (AP)
HSBC and NatWest, two of the United Kingdom's largest banks, have been exposed and accused of funding fossil fuel expansion in the North Sea despite signing a pledge to comply with net zero climate goals, The Guardian reported.
Another high street bank, Lloyds, was also involved in similar funding activities but slowed them down since signing the agreement.
The three banks are part of the Net Zero Banking Alliance and have pledged to cease direct financing for new oil and gas projects and to align their lending and investment portfolios with net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 at the latest.
However, a report called Banking on Climate Chaos 2023 indicates that between 2016 and 2022, Lloyds, HSBC, and NatWest provided significant financial support to Ithaca Energy, with Lloyds subsequently selling off its debt facilities to the company and having no ongoing lending to Ithaca.
Ithaca Energy is a British oil and gas conglomerate that has been majorly involved in the exploitation of the Rosebank oilfield northwest of the Shetland Islands and has been funded with between $60 million to $78 million from each of the three banks.
.@NatWest & @LloydsBank are not the angels they claim to be 👼🚫
— Bank On Our Future (@bankonourfuture) March 20, 2024
They're still financing some nasty business
Both banks are backing @ithacaenergy which is planning a MASSIVE polluting oil rig
Which bank will be first to go fossil free? #StopRosebankhttps://t.co/1FBesq4M86 pic.twitter.com/oGQd5CNYls
Ithaca has invested billions in developing Rosebank
Rosebank is the UK’s largest untapped oil field and holds around 500 million barrels of oil, which could emit 200 million tonnes of CO2 if fully utilized. Ithaca has been investing billions into developing Rosebank and aims to kickstart production by 2026, however, it has not officially declared its intentions to venture into renewables production, prompting critics to coin it a "pure play" company.
It is worth noting that the UK authorized the exploitation of Rosebank in September 2023.
As a result, over 80 organizations including Global Witness, Greenpeace, and the Rainforest Action Network have called on the banks' senior chiefs to stop funding Itharca and cut all ties with it.
In a letter addressed to each of the banks and nine others involved in financing the conglomerate, the climate organizations urged them to stop Ithaca's development of the Rosebank field, cut all funds allocated to it, and adopt policies more in line with the Paris Climate Accords.
If Ithaca achieves production in Rosebank, CO2 emissions would surpass those that the 28 lowest-income countries would emit in a year, combined, according to Lauren MacDonald of the Stop Rosebank campaign.
“If these banks are serious about their climate pledges and tackling the climate crisis, they must stop this blatant greenwashing and cease financing Ithaca until it pulls the plug on Rosebank.”
Activists in 6 North Sea countries block access to oil infrastructure
Climate activists have been blocking oil and gas terminals, refineries, and ports in Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden to protest the perpetual exploitation of North Sea fossil fuel deposits.
As Denmark is also predicted to witness such protests, Scotland activists put up banners urging to end the exploitation of North Sea oil and gas.
Earlier this week, a report by Oil Change International revealed that none of the big fossil fuel-producing countries in the region, the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, and Denmark, intend to halt drilling soon enough to reach the 1.5°C (2.7F) global heating target set by the Paris climate accords.
“Under the campaign North Sea Fossil Free acts of civil disobedience are happening all around the North Sea,” Extinction Rebellion, a UK-founded global environmental movement, stated.
“The governments of these six countries are permitting new fossil extraction infrastructure, harming not only the North Sea ecosystem but also committing the whole world to dangerous levels of warming," it stressed.
“Activists have come together today in a series of actions – unfolding across the day – to demand all North Sea oil countries align their drilling plans with the Paris agreement now,” it added.
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