UK banking giant Barclays has just announced that it will drop direct funding for new oil and gas projects.
Campaigners, however, say that Barclays could have gone further in its commitments and that the announcement of the UK banking giant now puts pressure on the U.S. banks.
Barclays is also looking to avoid claims of greenwashing with a new set of guidelines about what ‘transition finance’ is and how its new transition finance team should apply it.
Barclays announced Friday it will no longer provide direct financing for any new upstream oil and gas, thermal coal expansion projects or related infrastructure to help achieve its net zero goals.
Barclays lowered its Brent crude prices forecast for this year by $8 to $85 per barrel due to higher supply, but noted that oil looks undervalued.
Barclays in a note on Thursday said the cut in forecasts is primarily due to “a higher starting point for inventories and a potentially longer path to OPEC spare capacity normalization.”
Oil prices hit US$120 a barrel on Monday after Saudi Arabia raised crude prices for July and amid doubts that an increased OPEC+ monthly output target will help ease tight supply.