Protesters halt NatWest shareholder meeting in Scotland as boss defends climate policy

Protesters have forced NatWest to halt its shareholder meeting, as the bank’s chairman defended its climate policy in response to investors claiming it has “backtracked” on commitments.

The annual general meeting (AGM) was being held on Tuesday morning, but had to be stopped for about half an hour amid disruption during chairman Rick Haythornthwaite’s opening speech.

Protesters were singing and making statements about NatWest’s climate policies.

We’ve had to wrestle with the questions of how do we balance supporting our customers in their transition efforts with managing the risks in what is an increasingly complex policy environment

The boss heard a statement presented by ShareAction, backed by investors managing $1.4 trillion (€1.2 trillion) in assets, including the Church of England Pensions Board, Greater Manchester Pension Fund and Rathbones Investment Management.

The statement said investors are “concerned by the bank’s changed outlook on climate change” having “reduced the ambition of its fossil fuel policy and climate targets”.

“The bank dropped its commitment not to finance oil and gas majors lacking a credible transition plan or failing to report their overall emissions,” it said.

It called for Mr Haythornthwaite to meet the group of shareholders to discuss the bank’s climate strategy.

Campaigners including ShareAction are also calling for shareholders to vote against the re-election of the bank’s chair over concerns of climate backtracking, which the Church of England’s pensions body said it plans to do.

Mr Haythornthwaite responded to the statements saying that he “takes climate change very seriously, as does all of this board” and that he was happy to meet the group.

“We’ve had to wrestle with the questions of how do we balance supporting our customers in their transition efforts with managing the risks in what is an increasingly complex policy environment,” he said.

He stressed that the bank’s “overwhelming” balance of lending was on renewables and that oil and gas financing comprises 0.6% of total lending.

NatWest also retained targets to at least halve the climate impact of its financing activity by 2030, against a 2019 baseline.

“I don’t want to take what sounds like a backtracking as a major shift,” Mr Haythornthwaite said, adding that “these targets matter”.