Martha is a farmer in Nigeria

Barclays and HSBC are financing companies polluting our planet and in the process, harming women’s rights. This is patriarchy in action.

ActionAid is campaigning with women’s movements to get these banks to stop funding fossil fuels and industrial agriculture, and to get governments to invest in sustainable alternatives.

Take action: Tell the CEOs of Barclays and HSBC: Stop funding climate change.

How Barclays and HSBC are fuelling climate destruction

£ 336 billion
has been invested by Barclays and HSBC in fossil fuels and industrial agriculture since the 2015 Paris Agreement at COP21.

14 times
Women and girls are 14 times more likely to die from climate disasters than men.

$ 5.7 m/day
was invested by Barclays and HSBC in Shell between 2016 and 2022.

Fighting pollution: Martha's story

Activists in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria are sharing how Shell, the fossil fuel giant, is devastating their communities with oil spills, gas flaring, polluted water and human rights abuses.

Contaminated waterways caused by massive oil-spills and persistent gas flaring has decimated fish populations, resulting in the loss of countless livelihoods and a sharp rise in hunger.

Fisherwomen like Martha are among those most affected as livelihoods are ripped away and hunger sharply rises. She says:

Before the arrival of Shell, when we cast our nets there was always a surplus of fish, and we would have problems taking all the fish home. Now that Shell has arrived, and they started burning their fire and spilling oil everywhere, since they came here, we cannot catch fish."

"We are dying of hunger. Even the water in our taps now has oil in it since Shell came. Water that is meant for consumption is now contaminated.

"Whenever we drink from the water, we always come down with stomach acheThe oil has damaged everything.” 

How does climate change affect women and girls?

We know about the gendered impact of climate change from our work across the world.

We have seen time and time again how women and girls are pushed to drop out of school or marry early to help manage the financial stress that families face during droughts or floods.

In 2022, ActionAid research in Kenya, Rwanda, Zambia, and Nigeria found that climate change had also increased gender-based violence and damaged women’s mental health.

How ActionAid supports alternatives led by women

Developing sustainable alternatives: find out more about agroecology.

Developing sustainable alternatives: find out more about agroecology.
Maryam, photographed at her house in Somaliland

Investigating abuses: find out how the banks are fuelling the climate crisis.

Investigating abuses: find out how the banks are fuelling the climate crisis.
Habiba is a farmer in the Maroodi Jeex Region of Somaliland. She has experienced extreme losses since the climate change induced drought in 2022. Credit: Khadija Farah/ActionAid

Campaigning for change: sign our petition to stop banks funding climate crises.

Campaigning for change: sign our petition to stop banks funding climate crises.
Top image: With the support of ActionAid, Martha and her community have started farming again after the floods that destroyed their crops.  Nora Awolowo/ActionAid

Page updated 23 July 2024