Barclays and HSBC are financing companies polluting our planet and in the process, harming women’s rights. This is patriarchy in action.
ActionAid is campaigning with women’s movements to get these banks to stop funding fossil fuels and industrial agriculture, and to get governments to invest in sustainable alternatives.
Take action: Tell the CEOs of Barclays and HSBC: Stop funding climate change.
How Barclays and HSBC are fuelling climate destruction
Key facts
$336 bn
Barclays and HSBC invested $336 bn in fossil fuels and industrial agriculture since the 2015 Paris Agreement at COP21.
14 times
Women and girls are 14 times more likely to die from climate disasters than men.
$5.7m/day
Barclays and HSBC invested the equivalent of $5.7 million a day in Shell between 2016-2022.
Fighting pollution: Martha's story
Activists in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria are sharing how Shell, the fossil fuel giant, is devastating their communities with oil spills, gas flaring, polluted water and human rights abuses.
Contaminated waterways caused by massive oil-spills and persistent gas flaring has decimated fish populations, resulting in the loss of countless livelihoods and a sharp rise in hunger.
Fisherwomen like Martha are among those most affected as livelihoods are ripped away and hunger sharply rises.
“Before the arrival of Shell, when we cast our nets there was always a surplus of fish, and we would have problems taking all the fish home.
"Now that Shell has arrived, and they started burning their fire and spilling oil everywhere, since they came here, we cannot catch fish.
"We are dying of hunger. Even the water in our taps now has oil in it since Shell came. Water that is meant for consumption is now contaminated.
"Whenever we drink from the water, we always come down with stomach ache. The oil has damaged everything.”
How does climate change affect women and girls?
We know about the gendered impact of climate change from our work across the world.
We have seen time and time again how women and girls are pushed to drop out of school or marry early to help manage the financial stress that families face during droughts or floods.
In 2022, ActionAid research in Kenya, Rwanda, Zambia, and Nigeria found that climate change had also increased gender-based violence and damaged women’s mental health.
Page updated 20 February 2024
