, and noted that its energy sector financing had dropped by 25% since 2021.
Campaigners said the creation of such a high-level climate communications role was a sign that Barclays was growing “scared” of climate activists.Joanna Warrington, at Fossil Free London, said: “In recent years we’ve seen campaigning pressure expand beyond the oil giants like Shell and Equinor, on to banks and the massive funding they provide to companies building new oil and gas projects that would be impossible without it. Barclays is clearly scared.
The hiring follows similar moves by lenders, including the Canadian bank RBC, which recently announced it was hiring a head of climate transition who will have responsibilities including producing “lasting responses to climate activism”. RBC said climate was a “top priority” and that it was investing in a dedicated team to ensure the bank was “best positioned to support these efforts”.
The US bank Citigroup recently posted an advert for a vice-president for environmental, social and governance stakeholder engagement. The new hire will be paid up to $180,070 a year, and focus on environmental issues and human rights. The bank has faced criticism over its. Citigroup did not respond to a request for comment.
Richard Brooks, the climate finance director at the environmental group Stand.earth, said: “Major banks hiring senior staff as spin doctors to green their bad images on climate issues rather than actually tackling their fossil fuel financing is utterly sickening, given the deaths in Hawaii, fires in Canada’s Arctic and extreme heat all over North America.”