Barclays: It’s Unrealistic for Banks to Ditch Oil and Gas Clients

Calls from campaigners and activist investors for banks to abandon financing for the oil and gas industry are unrealistic, according to the top executive of banking giant Barclays. Banks “cannot go cold turkey” on financing the oil and gas sector, Barclays chief executive officer C.S. Venkatakrishnan told Bloomberg during the Bloomberg Sustainable Finance Forum in London on Tuesday. Environmental campaigners and shareholder activists have been calling for a halt to financing for coal, oil, and gas, and have been accusing the…