National Trust under pressure to ditch Barclays

The National Trust has come under pressure from the grandson of one of its biggest donors over its relationship with Barclays – and the bank’s links with the fossil fuel industry.

Dominic Acland said his grandfather Sir Richard Acland, an environmentalist who gave his 17,000-acre ancestral estates to the charity in 1944, would have been ‘horrified that the National Trust is banking with Barclays’.

Sir Richard’s bequest includes the Killerton estate in Devon. Acland said he had written to the National Trust arguing its stance of engaging with the bank to push for change was not working. 

‘It seems completely out of kilter to be banking with Barclays… when they [the National Trust] are an organisation that cares so deeply about nature and the environment,’ he told The Financial Times.

Last month charity Christian Aid said it would stop banking with Barclays over its ‘record on fossil fuel finance’.

The National Trust said: ‘We are clear that banks, including Barclays, need to do much more to address the financing of the fossil fuel industry.’

Barclays said it was ‘working with customers and clients as they transition to a low-carbon business model’.