ENVIRONMENTAL activists shut down more than 95 Barclays branches across Britain yesterday over the bank’s support for fossil fuels.

Greenpeace targeted nearly 100 branches from Portsmouth to Dundee early in the morning by disabling doors to prevent staff from entering.

The group is demanding that Barclays stops its support for oil, gas and coal companies, and channels funding into renewable energy instead to help tackle the climate crisis.

Activists put up posters with slogans such as “stop funding fossil fuels”  onto the windows of the banks as well as pop-up exhibitions showing climate-related disasters in Belfast, Cardiff, Edinburgh, London and Manchester.

Greenpeace UK head of oil Richard George said: “Barclays is the biggest funder for the fossil fuel industry for the whole of Europe and the UK.

“We’re here to send a message that they need to move their money out of fossil fuels and start supporting real climate change solutions instead.”

Greenpeace UK climate finance campaigner Morten Thaysen said: “From floods to bushfires and record heat in Antarctica, the impacts of this crisis are staring us in the face.

“Banks are just as responsible for the climate emergency as the fossil fuel companies they fund, yet they’ve escaped scrutiny for years.”

He said that they shut down the branches to “shine a spotlight” on the bank’s role in “bankrolling” the climate emergency.

“It’s time Barclays pulled the plug and backed away from funding fossil fuels for good,” Mr Thaysen added.

A Barclays spokeswoman said the bank is “determined to do all we can” to support the transition to a low carbon economy, while “also ensuring that global energy needs continue to be met.”