Climate activists will be taking to the streets of Wrexham this afternoon to protest against investment in fossil fuels outside Barclays bank.

The protest by Extinction Rebellion activists from XR Wrexham will begin on Hope Street outside the Wrexham branch at 1pm and is part of a national campaign with protestors gathering at 110 Barclays banks across the UK.

They say that the protest is to draw attention to Barclay’s role as the UK’s and Europe's largest financier of fossil fuels.

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Extinction Rebellion have referenced the International Energy Agency (IEA) who says “there is no need for investment in new fossil fuel supply”, but, last year Barclays invested nearly £20 billion in fossil fuels. Since the Paris Climate Agreement their total investment in fossil fuels is almost £150 billion.

This April the United Nations reported that the world is on a “fast track” to disaster, and scientists warned it is “now or never” to limit warming to 1.5 degrees.

This summer the UK recorded its hottest ever temperature, and there were three times the usual number of wildfires. Drought conditions across the UK are set to continue into 2023. Just this week the UN Secretary General, António Guterres, warned, “We are on a highway to climate hell with our foot still on the accelerator.”

Extinction Rebellions says that the week-long protest follows Barclays' announcement of much higher than expected pre-tax profits for the quarter of nearly £2bn. Higher interest rates have helped increase Barclays’ profits, whilst the cost of living over the same period has soared.

Extinction Rebellion is calling for an end to all new investments in coal, oil and gas.

A Barclays spokesperson said: “We are determined to play our part in addressing the urgent and complex challenge of climate change.

"In March 2020 we were one of the first banks to set an ambition to become net zero by 2050, across all of our direct and indirect emissions, and we committed to align all of our financing activities with the goals and timelines of the Paris Agreement.

"We have a three-part strategy to turn that ambition into action: achieving net zero operations, reducing our financed emissions, and financing the transition.

"In practice, this means we have set 2030 targets to reduce our financed emissions in four of the highest emitting sectors in our financing portfolio, with additional 2025 targets for the two highest-emitting sectors – energy and power. We have also provided over £80bn of green financing and we are investing our own capital – £175m – into innovative, green start-ups.”