Victory: Barclays won’t invest in destroying the Great Barrier Reef!

*High fives* and *applause* – Barclays won’t be investing in the destruction of the Great Barrier Reef!

Remember Abbot Point, the huge coal port that mega company Adani want to build at the heart of the pristine reef? Last night, Barclays confirmed they have:

“… no plans to participate in financing the Abbot Point development or its associated mine/rail infrastructure”.

This is great news, particularly because they haven’t just said they won’t fund the port. They’ve also said they won’t sink money into the mines or the railway lines that take the coal to the coast. Barclays are one of the biggest international investors in Australian coal, so this is pretty huge.

Thousands of us worked alongside organisations around the world to make this happen. Organisations around the world are working to take bank after bank out of the funding pipeline for the Abbot Point coal port. From Campact in Germany to GetUp in Australia, and Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, 350.org and SumOfUs internationally, hundreds of thousands of people are working together to persuade banks like Barclays not to invest. So far, we’ve knocked over HSBC, RBS, Deutsche Bank and now Barclays.

Last week we turned up the heat on Barclays. 38 Degrees members sent over 10,000 tweets to Barclays’ media team, asking for a statement. We got one – but 140 characters or less is hardly a binding commitment. So together we sent an amazing 18,361 emails to Barclays asking them to formally rule out investing in Abbot Point or any of the railways or mines linking to it.

And we got it! Of course, “no plans to participate” doesn’t mean they couldn’t make plans tomorrow. So just to be sure, let’s remind them that thousands of people are watching them closely for the slightest hint of a u-turn.

So 38 Degrees members are tweeting Barclays today to thank them, and to lock down their commitment. Click here if you’d like to join them.

Adani are still on the hunt for investors, but taking Barclays out of the mix is a huge step forward. And it’s people power wot won it. Here’s to the Great Barrier Reef (and to saving Nemo!).