Opinion: Just Stop Oil have just landed a major victory

It is nice to start a column with a bit of good climate news. Just over halfway through Just Stop Oil’s month of peaceful disruptive climate actions in October, came the positive announcement that another of the UK’s top banks was to ban loans for new oil and gas field projects.This is the one simple demand of Just Stop Oil – that the UK government bans all new fossil fuel projects. It is the essential first step to wean ourselves off all existing fossil fuels in time to avoid utter climate destruction.On 20 October, Lloyds Banking Group announced an end to ‘direct financing (either via project finance, or reserve-based lending) of new greenfield oil and gas developments (fields which did not receive oil and gas authority approval before the end of 2021).” Lloyds have invested more than $12.6 billion in fossil fuels since the Paris summit in 2015. This followed the February announcement that NatWest would in future prohibit project finance to exploration for new oil and gas reserves.They had invested $14.8 bn in fossil fuels since Paris. A spokesperson for NatWest told this column that, ‘since December 2019, we have reduced our oil and gas sector exposure by about £1.7bn. By December 2021, oil and gas total sector exposure was down to 0.7 per cent of total loans’.This is crucial, because the UK’s top five banks’ investments in fossil fuels added up to 8 per cent of global banking investments in fossil fuels since Paris, despite the UK making up less than 1 per cent of the global population.A Just Stop Oil spokesperson told this column: ‘Just Stop Oil welcomes the decision by Lloyds Bank to end the funding of new oil and gas. It demonstrates a grasp on reality lacking in our government. We look forward to others joining them, because investing in new oil and gas is to plan for the deaths of millions. It would lead to the loss of the rule of law, on which our banking system and civil society depend. Ditching new oil and gas is an act of self-preservation.’We asked the remaining three of the big five banks if they planned to join Lloyds and NatWest in banning new fossil fuel investments. Neither Santander (32nd worst globally at $43bn) nor Barclays (7th worst at $167bn) provided a comment. This week, Extinction Rebellion launched a nationwide series of actions against Barclays, with XR’s spokesperson Gail Bradbrook stating: ‘It’s high time that Barclays recognised the destructive role they are playing as Europe’s largest financier of fossil fuels and changed course.’  But a HSBC spokesperson told us that HSBC (13th worst at $131 bn) were, ‘delivering a net zero global economy involves us partnering with clients – including those in carbon-intensive sectors – to deliver change in ambitious timeframes.’ Ironically, the only big five bank who did not acknowledge our press queries was Lloyds. As I always feel any banking announcement about net zero deserves to be carefully examined, I sent them these questions:How can you ensure that general lending to oil or gas companies is not used to help fund new projects, by releasing other funds within them to fund the new projects?When will Lloyds be a fossil-fuel loan free bank?Does your cut-off date for loans to fossil fuel fields with permissions prior to January 2022, mean you will still invest in new greenfield oil and gas fields for some time?But we got no reply.With the pause announced in Just Stop Oil’s M25 climate protection actions, it is time to assess progress in ending finance for new fossil fuels since The Independent launched our Stop Fuelling the Climate Crisis Campaign in April 2021. The coalition opposing all new investments now includes the UN Secretary General, the International Energy Agency, UNEP, the Labour, SNP, LibDem and Green Parties, Lloyds, NatWest, The Independent and even many Tory MPs. And most importantly: the British public strongly favours renewables over expanding North Sea fossil fuels. In an ECIU survey about the 2022 energy price crisis, 51 per cent saw renewables and insulation as the best way to reduce reliance on gas. This compared to only 9 per cent backing expansion of North Sea oil and gas exploration and 8 per cent backing fracking as the best long-term solutions. Those still refusing to back No New Oil and Gas include the Tory prime minister Rishi Sunak, following the lead of the Sun, Daily Mail and Daily Telegraph – who have all championed a massive expansion of North Sea oil and gas – plus Barclays, HSBC, Shell and BP and the small but influential Net Zero Scrutiny Group of Tory MPs. To keep up to speed with all the latest opinions and comment sign up to our free weekly Voices Dispatches newsletter by clicking hereThere are now 35 Just Stop Oil climate protectors in jail, either on remand or serving sentences and more than 2,000 total arrests since their campaign started in February 2022. With even chief constable Chris Noble, the senior officer in charge of policing public protests, stating: ‘We are not going to arrest our way out of environmental protest’, it really is time for Rishi Sunak to ban all new investments in fossil fuels. Young people should not have to be risking their lives on motorways and going to prison, so that Britain can now focus on the really urgent task of phasing out all existing fossil fuel burning by 2030 – at the latest.