Investors and leading climate scientists are demanding that NatWest reverse its recent climate policy changes, with a coordinated campaign of protest votes and open letters set to escalate at the bank’s annual general meeting in Edinburgh on Tuesday.
The campaign, led by the responsible-investment group ShareAction, targets the reappointment of the bank’s chair, Rick Haythornthwaite, as a means of holding the board accountable for what campaigners describe as “climate backtracking”. NatWest has watered down restrictions on lending to the oil and gas sector and dropped several decarbonisation targets without what ShareAction calls a robust explanation.
Backing the call, investors managing a combined $1.4 trillion in assets have signed a statement that will be presented at the AGM. Signatories include the Church of England Pensions Board, Rathbones Investment Management, EdenTree Investment Management, Nest, and the Greater Manchester Pension Fund. The statement demands that NatWest meet with them within three months to discuss the future direction of its climate strategy. The Church of England Pensions Board has separately confirmed it will vote against directors at NatWest, as well as at Santander and HSBC, accusing all three of having “materially backtracked” on climate commitments, which it views as a governance failure that undermines board oversight and risk management.
Alongside the investor statement, ShareAction will deliver a letter signed by 70 climate scientists and experts urging NatWest to “show leadership and reverse the backtracking on climate commitments”. The scientists’ letter warns that the bank has “undermined public trust and created a clear path for continued financing of a global fossil fuel economy”.
Three specific policy reversals
The core of the dispute concerns a series of specific amendments NatWest has made to its climate policy. The bank has dropped a previous commitment not to lend to any oil and gas companies that either lacked a credible transition plan or failed to report their overall carbon emissions. It has also removed a commitment not to finance oil and gas exploration and production companies where the majority of their assets are located outside the United Kingdom. In addition, NatWest has abandoned decarbonisation targets covering aluminium, cement, and iron and steel.
The changes mark a significant retreat from the position the bank publicly adopted in 2021, when it said it would stop lending to and underwriting major oil and gas producers unless they had a credible transition plan aligned with the Paris Agreement by the end of that year. According to a bank spokesperson at the 2021 AGM, that commitment was confirmed at the time.
Recent revisions to NatWest’s “Oil & Gas ‘Risk Acceptance Criteria’” document have introduced what campaigners say is a subtle loophole. A footnote was added to a restriction on “Companies classified as oil and gas Majors that had a credible transition plan aligned with the 2015 Paris Agreement in place”, stating: “*as assessed by our point in time credible transition plan assessment methodology undertaken in 2021*”. That footnote was not present in the 2024 version of the document. ShareAction has also highlighted that a loophole in the bank’s policy allowed continued financing for BP despite BP’s own recent backtracking on climate commitments – a move that occurred in the same month NatWest revised its own policies.
Jeanne Martin, head of the banking programme at ShareAction, said: “NatWest spent years presenting itself as a climate leader, but quietly rolling back fossil fuel restrictions shows the board is heading in the wrong direction. This kind of backtracking has real consequences, fuelling a climate crisis that is already damaging homes, health and livelihoods, and creating long-term risks for the economy.” She added that at the AGM the board will hear from “concerned investors as well as leading climate scientists, underlining why retreating from climate commitments is both dangerous and short-sighted”.
NatWest’s defence and remaining commitments
NatWest has defended the changes, arguing that it has retained interim targets to at least halve the climate impact of its financing compared with 2019 levels while it works towards a longer-term ambition of net-zero emissions from its financing by 2050. The bank states that its updated policies are designed to “reflect the evolving policy environment, the complex and diverse needs of the transition, and the areas where we can deliver the greatest impact for customers”.
According to a NatWest group spokesperson, the bank has already exceeded a previous target of providing £100 billion in climate and sustainable funding and financing between July 2021 and June 2025, delivering £110.3 billion. It has now set a new target to provide £200 billion in climate and transition finance between July 2025 and the end of 2030. On emissions reduction, NatWest reports it has achieved a 39% reduction in the climate impact of its financing over 2019 to 2024 and aims for a 50% reduction by 2030 against the 2019 baseline. The bank also aims to reduce the physical emissions intensity of its oil and gas financing by 13% by 2030, measured against 2023 levels.
For its own operational emissions, NatWest has refreshed its ambition to reduce Scope 1 and location-based Scope 2 emissions by 70% by 2030 against a 2019 baseline, after an earlier target of a 50% reduction by the end of 2025. The bank has also set out a timetable for phasing out coal: by October 1, 2024, for UK and non-UK customers involved in UK coal production, coal-fired generation, and coal-related infrastructure, with a full global phase-out by January 1, 2030.
The policy revisions at NatWest come against a broader backdrop of UK bank financing for fossil fuels. Research compiled by campaigners shows that UK banks, including NatWest, provided £119 billion in financing to the fossil fuel sector between 2020 and 2024. Separate studies have found that London-based banks have invested more than $100 billion (£75 billion) into companies developing large-scale oil, gas, and coal projects — so-called “carbon bombs” — that could push global temperatures past internationally agreed limits. Unlike other high-carbon sectors, UK financial institutions are not currently regulated to the same extent regarding their financing activities and are not legally required to align their lending with national or global climate commitments.
ShareAction is urging shareholders to vote against the re-election of Chair Rick Haythornthwaite as a direct expression of concern about the bank’s direction and the integrity of its governance. NatWest’s 2025 AGM is scheduled for Tuesday at its Gogarburn headquarters in Edinburgh, with a virtual shareholder event also held on April 21, 2025. The bank has said it will continue to engage constructively with stakeholders as it makes progress on its commitments.
