A COALITION of climate protesters gathered outside a Reading town centre bank on Saturday, calling on companies they say are polluters to pay reparations.
Members of Global Justice Reading were among 50 people who stood outside the Broad Street branch of Barclays for the protest.
Banners and placards drew attention to their campaign, and they said they gave out leaflets and invited people to sign a petition which will be sent to Downing Street, urging Rishi Sunak to get fossil fuel companies to fund the loss and damage fund that was set up by the international community at COP27 last year.
The event, part of a Make Polluters Pay action day, came days after Mr Sunak announced a watering down of the government’s Net Zero work, including delaying the ban on new petrol and diesel cars. They can now be on sale until 2035, rather than 2030.
Global Justice Reading says the effects of the climate emergency are becoming more visible, including fires, floods and droughts.
It wants fossil fuel companies and banks to divert profits into a loss and damage fund for those affected by extreme weather events.
It argues that the latest profits revealed by Shell were £7.6billion and BP reported £4 billion. The group argues this is enough to cover the costs of losses and damages from extreme weather events in developing countries three times over.
Jackie Oversby, co-ordinator of Global Justice Reading, said: “We are demonstrating outside Barclays bank because they are still funding fossil fuel companies to sink new oil and gas wells and dig new coal mines.
“Between 2016-2022, it handed out nearly £160 billion for those purposes. It should be taxed, alongside the fossil fuel companies, to pay into the Loss and Damage Fund.
“Climate change is real. Climate Change is devastating people’s lives. But at least if the world can set up this Loss and Damage fund, there would be some help for people to start to rebuild what they have lost.”
Other groups joining Global Justice Reading included Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, Christian Aid, Reading churches, the Green Party, the Socialist Alliance, and the Trades Union Council.
Barclays has published its own strategy into the climate emergency, pledging to be Net Zero by 2050. This can be found on its website: https://home.barclays/sustainability/addressing-climate-change/
Shell’s work can be seen at https://www.shell.com/energy-and-innovation/the-energy-future/our-climate-target.html
And BP has its own climate strategy: https://www.bp.com/en/global/corporate/sustainability/getting-to-net-zero.html
