Singing activists disrupt NatWest meeting over ‘climate backtracking’

The chair of NatWest was forced to defend the bank against accusations of “climate backtracking” at a chaotic annual shareholder meeting, which was temporarily suspended owing to singing protesters. Not long after the meeting began in Edinburgh , it was adjourned for about half an hour after a protester interrupted Rick Haythornthwaite’s opening speech. Protesters in the audience, wearing black T-shirts emblazoned with “No more big oil” and “No bombs”, then sang a song to the tune of Frère Jacques, with a chorus of “No more bombs, no more oil”. They appear to represent the campaign group Extinction Rebellion’s XR Money Rebellion, which has targeted NatWest and other banks for financing fossil fuel projects. When the meeting resumed, it was dominated by questions from shareholders about NatWest’s climate policies, as well as staff wages compared with bumper executive pay packets. Recent changes to the bank’s climate policy have included dropping a commitment not to lend to any oil and gas companies that lack a credible transition plan or fail to report their overall carbon emissions. A screengrab of some of the protesters at the NatWest AGM. Photograph: X/@money_rebellion Mara Lilley, a representative of the Church of England pension board, said the C of E board was voting against Haythornthwaite’s re-election because of “concerns about NatWest backtracking on its climate commitments ”. …