National Trust Votes to Seek New Banking Partner Aligned With Its Environmental Policies

The UK's National Trust is set to change its banking partner. At the charity's annual general meeting on Saturday, members voted overwhelmingly for a resolution instructing the organisation to begin a competitive tendering process to find a new bank in line with its environmental policies.

The resolution passed with 53,256 votes in favour and 4,094 against, backed by the Trust's board of trustees. For the first time, the tendering process will require the new bank to demonstrate a positive commitment to protecting biodiversity and reducing the human-induced climate crisis.

Campaigners said the result sends a message that charities should apply the same environmental standards to their financial relationships as they do to their investments and suppliers. Drew James, a proposer of the resolution and a member of Christian Climate Action, said the result highlights a profound shift in NGO accountability. James said civil society looks to charities, universities and faith groups to sever ties with financial institutions failing to match their ethical standards.

The move follows years of pressure from members concerned about Barclays' financing of the fossil fuel industry. The bank has been criticised for supporting 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 Trust is facing mounting consequences of extreme weather across its portfolio. 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 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, because its trustees have for years declared climate change and the decline of nature to be the biggest threat to the places in its care. Each is human-induced, and the pace is quickening.

He pointed to comments 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. Meanwhile, James said, Barclays undermines the conservation mission by channelling billions of dollars into fossil fuel expansion.

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. James said it is contradictory for the organisation to hold its own banking provider to a lower standard than its suppliers and investment portfolio.

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.

The board 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.

Others questioned the significance of the success, with insiders suggesting that the tendering process will not take place for at least a year.

Barclays has defended its relationship with the National Trust and its wider approach to financing the energy sector. A spokesperson said it is the bank's privilege to support and bank the National Trust, and that it values engagement on these important topics.

The spokesperson added that as a leading energy financier, the bank recognises the interconnectedness of economic growth, energy security and affordability and decarbonisation to meet society's needs. Over the past three years, it has facilitated more than $300bn (£225bn) of sustainable and transition finance, including billions for cleaner energy projects in the UK and millions invested in climate tech.

Campaigners, however, dispute the significance of the $300bn fund, pointing to Barclays' latest annual report, which states that fossil fuel entities can access it provided the money is not designated directly for oil and gas activity.

James said this means that a reduction in carbon intensity, such as a switch from tar sands extraction to natural gas, could qualify for sustainability backing even if it results in a net increase in total carbon emissions.

Restore Trust, a group of National Trust members, has said the vote shows the organisation is straying from its core purpose. Its chair, Cornelia van der Poll, called the vote a distraction from the National Trust's charitable purpose of properly maintaining all the historic buildings and countryside in its care.