Campaigners urge the bank to strengthen its climate policy by eliminating exceptions for fracking companies.

Campaigners are calling on Barclays to close what they see as a “loophole” in its energy policy that allows the financing of fracking companies, despite the bank’s commitment to decarbonise and reduce its support for fossil fuels.

The UK’s largest bank amended its climate change statement in February, pledging to focus capital on supporting energy companies in their transition to decarbonisation. Barclays announced that it would no longer finance new oil and gas projects and would limit funding to “pureplay” companies—those focusing exclusively on fossil fuel extraction. However, the bank’s policy still contains exemptions for short-term projects, such as fracking, which campaigners argue continue to harm the environment.

ShareAction, a responsible investment charity, pointed out that the bank’s energy policy does not fully exclude financing fracking companies, many of which are short-term extractors. According to ShareAction, fracking made up 57% of Barclays’ financing to pureplay companies between 2021-2022, with this figure rising to 80% in 2022 alone.

Despite restrictions placed on fracking financing in the UK and Europe, where the practice is largely banned, Barclays continues to finance fracking firms in the US, where the practice remains legal. Critics argue that this stance places Barclays out of step with other banks like HSBC and BNP Paribas, which have already restricted financing for fracking in both North America and Europe.

Barclays argues that fracking projects have a short lifecycle and that the bank’s financing aims to support current energy needs while clean energy sources are scaled up. The bank has committed to providing one trillion dollars in Sustainable and Transition Finance by 2030 and has reduced its financed emissions for the energy sector by 44% since 2020.

However, ShareAction maintains that Barclays must go further in its efforts to curb support for fossil fuel extraction, urging the bank’s shareholders to demand stronger commitments to exclude financing for fracking projects worldwide. The charity says Barclays must align its policies with other major banks that have already committed to ending support for fracking, which continues to harm the environment, destroy habitats, and contribute to climate change.