NatWest's Climate Policy Shift Sparks Shareholder Uproar

0:00On April 28th, NatWest's annual shareholder meeting turned chaotic, with singing protesters forcing a temporary suspension as the bank's chair, defended recent tweaks to its climate policy against backtracking claims. The bank dropped its strict rule against lending to oil and gas firms without solid transition plans or full emissions reporting, but chair-haward. Haythorne's weight, a former geologist at BP, stressed the board takes climate change dead seriously. He highlighted unchanged goals like cutting the bank's climate impact in half from 2019 levels, now at 39% and hitting net. Zero finance emissions by 2050, plus 19 billion pounds, poured into energy transition last half of 2025, aiming for two. Hundred billion pounds in sustainable loans by 2030. Investors pushed back hard with share-action-repping 19 institutions holding $1.4 trillion in assets calling it a risky. Downgrade that amps up exposure to floods and heat waves, while staff griped about

1:03exec pay soaring amid their own struggles like food bank visits. Haythorne's weight got re-elected with just 92% support, whose lowest ever, and agreed to meet those investors soon, as the bank eyes affair. Deal with unions and build on the government's full exit from its shares last year, navigating this tightrope toward real sustainability.