The Guardian reported that NatWest's annual meeting was suspended when protesters began singing, and the Church of England pension board said it voted against the chair's re-election after the bank dropped a climate lending commitment. The meeting was temporarily halted as activists from Extinction Rebellion's XR Money Rebellion sang a reworked version of the nursery rhyme Frère Jacques, according to The Guardian. Their lyrics called for an end to military funding and oil, the newspaper stated. The protest followed NatWest's decision to scrap a commitment not to finance oil and gas firms without credible transition plans or carbon emissions reporting, The Guardian said. In response, the Church of England pension board announced it had voted against the re-election of chair Rick Haythornthwaite, citing concerns that the bank was retreating from its climate promises.
The Guardian noted that during the meeting, Haythornthwaite pushed back against claims of climate backtracking. He told shareholders that his training as a geologist meant he took climate disruption very seriously. He characterized the policy revision as minor and a sensible middle path, and stressed that the bank's main climate targets were unchanged. In particular, he said NatWest was still aiming to cut its climate impact in half from 2019 levels—a reduction that has already reached 39%—and to become net zero by 2050.
No more big oil
Haythornthwaite then detailed the bank's climate finance efforts. He said NatWest had provided £19 billion in energy transition funding in the final six months of 2025 and was working toward a goal of £200 billion in sustainable lending by 2030. He pointed out that lending to oil and gas companies made up just 0.6% of NatWest's overall loan portfolio, and he listed a series of prohibited sectors, including shale oil, oil sands, coal gas, methane, and coal liquefaction.
Investor group Share Action strongly condemned the policy change. Jeanne Martin of Share Action stated that in February, NatWest had lowered the strength of its fossil fuel policy and climate goals. Share Action, which acts for 19 institutional investors managing $1.4 trillion in assets, had previously warned that reversing green commitments would bring real-world consequences. Martin called for a meeting with NatWest within three months to address the policy shift, according to the group.
No bombs
No more bombs, no more oil