Climate Emergency activist emblazoned stickers and posters on the St Albans Barclays branch decrying the bank's roles in financing fossil fuels.

On Friday, November 20, staff arriving to open the branch were greeted with messages condemning the bank.

One of the posters claimed Barclays is the largest funder in Europe of fossil fuel projects, and judged the second worst bank for biodiversity destruction.

A spokesperson for St Albans Extinction Rebellion said “We can all see the first impacts of the climate emergency – fires in California and Australia, flooding and deadly heatwaves in Europe, catastrophic storms in the Caribbean – and it will get much worse. And yet Barclays continue to provide billions of pounds to support new fossil fuel extraction projects. That is inexcusable.”

“What is more, Barclays also finances oil and gas exploration in the Arctic, and tar sands extraction – the dirtiest and most damaging fossil fuel projects.”

“We would encourage all St Albans residents that bank with Barclays to challenge their bank to stop funding fossil fuels. And if they don’t, to move to an ethical alternative. If you don’t, you could be inadvertently financing the climate emergency.”

In an earlier statement, a spokesman from Barclays said: “We facilitated £27.3 billion in social and environmental financing last year.

“We are determined to do all we can to support the transition to a low carbon economy, while also ensuring that global energy needs continue to be met.”

Barclays added they published a statement in January and said they aim to help accelerate the transition to a low and zero carbon economy.

This includes specific restrictions and safeguards regarding carbon energy such as thermal coal, Arctic oil and gas and oil sands.

They also said they no longer hold stakes in UK fracking.