The National Trust has voted overwhelmingly to seek a new banking partner in a significant victory for members who have long argued that its relationship with Barclays was at odds with its commitment to protecting the natural world. The resolution, passed at the charity’s annual general meeting on Saturday with the backing of its board of trustees, instructs the organisation to begin a competitive tendering process for its banking arrangements. That process will, for the first time, centre on the condition that the new bank demonstrates a positive commitment to protecting biodiversity and reducing the human-induced climate crisis.
Campaigners said the result, 53,256 votes for and 4,094 against, sent a message that charities should apply the same environmental standards to their financial relationships as they do to their investments and suppliers. But others questioned the significance of the success, with insiders suggesting that the tendering process will not take place for at least a year. The bank has been criticised for its support for oil and gas expansion, including fracking and methane gas infrastructure, while the National Trust has repeatedly identified the climate emergency and the decline of nature as the greatest threats to the landscapes, wildlife and historic properties in its care.
The vote came as the trust faces mounting consequences of extreme weather across its portfolio of countryside, coastline and historic buildings. A wildfire at Dunwich Heath in Suffolk in July destroyed 104 hectares (256 acres) of ancient heathland, with campaigners estimating that the damage would take 25 years to recover. Other trust properties have faced the effects of flash flooding, prolonged drought and increasingly severe weather.
James said the relationship with Barclays was particularly difficult to reconcile with the Trust’s public position on the climate crisis. Each is human-induced, and the pace is quickening,” he said. He pointed to comments made by the trust’s chief executive at a seminar during the Labour party conference, in which the executive identified keeping fossil fuels in the ground as the most significant response to the climate breakdown.
The resolution’s supporters argued that the trust’s association with the bank was inconsistent with its responsibilities under the National Trust Act 1907, which established its duty to preserve places of historic interest and natural beauty for the benefit of the nation. They also pointed to the Trust’s previous advice to the public, encouraging them to bank ethically. However, the National Trust has made clear that the tender will not be restricted to specialist ethical banks.
In its supporting statement for the vote, the board said the tender “must remain open to the major UK clearing banks”. It added that “while some members may understandably aspire to the use of a specialist ethical bank, the evidence presented to the board of trustees indicates that no such provider currently has the combination of cash handling capability, lending capacity, payments infrastructure and operational scale required to support an organisation of the Trust’s size and complexity”. Barclays has defended its relationship with the National Trust and its wider approach to financing the energy sector.
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