ABOUT US
Students organising to take on fossil banks at our universities
Students can challenge fossil fuel finance in three connected ways: organising students to switch banks, mobilising the Students' Union to move its money and formally support the campaign, and pressuring the university to change its banking providers.
65 of the world’s largest banks provided £377.6bn to fossil fuel expansion in 2025 · Your bank is not neutral · Students can move money and pressure universities to act
provided by the world's 65 largest banks to companies expanding fossil fuel production, in 2025 alone.
Banking on Climate Chaos 2026
£377.6bn
WHY THIS CAMPAIGN
Banks are not passive observers. They choose which industries and projects they help finance. By continuing to support fossil fuel expansion, banks are profiting from climate breakdown and enabling projects that might otherwise struggle to secure the money they need.
WHY THIS CAMPAIGN
Banks are not passive observers. They choose which industries and projects they help finance. By continuing to support fossil fuel expansion, banks are profiting from climate breakdown and enabling projects that might otherwise struggle to secure the money they need.
We are already living through a climate catastrophe. Preventing it from becoming even worse requires a rapid transition away from coal, oil and gas. Expanding fossil fuel production takes us in the opposite direction pushing Paris Agreement's temperature goals further out of reach.
Yet new coal mines, oil fields and gas infrastructure continue to be developed. These projects require enormous amounts of money. Fossil fuel companies rely on banks to help finance them, whether through loans or by underwriting shares and bonds.
WHAT WE ARE TRYING TO DO
£1.9tn
was held by UK households in deposits with UK banks at the end of 2025 — one of the cheapest and most stable sources of money banks have.
Office for National Statistics, 2026
Moving even part of that money away from fossil fuel banks and towards green banks can increase pressure on fossil banks, while helping green banks grow.
Students can move their own accounts and organise to collectively pressure universities to move their money and banking services to green banks.
Many UK universities already prevent investment in fossil fuels, yet still hold deposits with banks financing that same industry.
We cannot allow this to continue.
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OUR DEMAND TO UNIVERSITIES
01
Switch to green banks
Move all university money and banking services to providers that do not finance fossil fuel expansion.
02
Make the switch public
Publicly explain why you are switching and encourage other universities and institutions to follow.
A NOTE ON JUSTICE
SB4S deliberately focuses on banks financing new fossil fuel projects.
We recognise that many countries still depend on fossil energy sources and that millions of workers and communities rely on the industry for their livelihoods. Our campaign does not target those workers or demand that existing fossil projects are shut down overnight.
Instead, we note that financing new fossil fuel projects deepens this dependence and delays the transition to a cleaner and fairer economy. It also locks countries and communities into fossil infrastructure for decades, even as renewable energy becomes more affordable and offers greater energy security.
The downsides of new fossil fuel projects extend far beyond global warming. They often pollute local air and water, damage people’s health and displace communities from their homes and land. These environmental injustices are often imposed on communities that have contributed the least to the climate crisis.
These environmental injustices are often imposed on communities that have contributed the least to the climate crisis.
