Students 'die' in oil spills outside RBS HQ
Fifteen 'dead' bodies lying in a pool of oil blocked the entrance to the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) London HQ at Liverpool Street today. Students were staging a 'die-in' blockade to highlight the devastating effects of climate change.
Students block the doors of RBS HQ
Image © Ric Lander
The Climate Change protest took place outside the RBS HQ in London
Image © Ric Lander
Protesters created giant ‘splats’ of oil to lie in
Image © Ric Lander
Passers by were given P&Ps Ditch Dirty Development action cards
Image © Ric Lander
A banner was unfurled to ensure the message of the was put across
Image © Ric Lander
The protesters were demanding RBS stop funding destructive fossil fuel projects which will create climate catastrophe. The action is taking place as part of the climate camp and is co-ordinated by the student action network PANDA (People & Planet Associated Network for Direct Action).
PANDA student activist Alex Wood, 22, chained himself to other activists in front of RBS. He explained his reasons:
I’m risking arrest today because RBS must take responsibility for the emissions caused by their investments. Climate change causes the death of 150,000 people per year — each one of the fifteen bodies lying outside RBS represents 10,000 deaths. To stop this number increasing, RBS must act now.
RBS, which owns NatWest, is the second largest bank in Europe and a hugely significant private funder of fossil fuel projects. They play a crucial role in making some of the most controversial oil and gas extraction projects a reality, from the Niger Delta to the Caucasus, from Angola to Qatar.
RBS refuse to acknowledge responsibility for the climate impacts of their lending to fossil fuel projects. As a major UK financial body RBS has influence within the sector, but by acting as a laggard when it comes to climate change there is a danger that they will hold back progress by other banks.
People & Planet is running the Ditch Dirty Development campaign, which calls on RBS to take responsibility for the climate impacts of their financing for oil, gas and coal projects, put a cap on embedded emissions, and switch funding to renewable energy projects.