Banking Change, Not Climate Change
UK student campaign against banks funding fossil fuels
A £10k Barclays account emits 2 tonnes of CO2 per year -
more than 10 return flights from London to Rome.
And none of this is obvious when you click “pay.”
Are you okay using your money to fuel the climate crisis?
As students, our voices, and our cash, are powerful. Every pound in a fossil-funding bank is a vote against the planet. Every switch to a green bank is a vote for its future.
The Problem
🌍 The Ugly Truth
From 2016 to 2023, Barclays, HSBC, Santander, NatWest, and Lloyds pumped over £437 billion into the fossil fuel industry. That’s billions supporting climate breakdown, while communities flood, forests burn, and temperatures rise. Young people will inherit this crisis.
We’ll live with the damage. So why should we let our money help cause it?
🧼 The Greenwashing Game
Banks love talking green. They sponsor climate events and post leafy logos all over their ads. But behind the branding? They’re still bankrolling oil and gas like nothing’s changed. This is greenwashing - talking sustainability while funding destruction. And it tricks people into thinking progress is being made when it's not.
👊 Students Have Power
As students, we are the banks' future. They want our accounts, our trust, our loyalty. That gives us serious leverage. By switching to green banks, we send a message they can’t ignore: stop funding fossil fuels, or lose the next generation of customers. Plus, many of our universities still bank with climate-wrecking institutions, while claiming to be sustainable. If we shift our money, we push them to walk the talk too.
💥 The bottom line?
Our banks are making climate change worse. Our money can help make it better.
Let’s make the switch - and force real change.
