Nigel Farage labels HSBC’s decision to no longer finance new oil and gas fields a ‘self-inflicted act of LUNACY’

Nigel Farage has called HSBC’s decision to no longer provide finance for new oil and gas fields a “self-inflicted act of lunacy” on the UK.

HSBC has announced it will no longer provide finance for new oil and gas fields, as part of efforts to shift to a “net zero” emissions world.

The International Energy Agency has said that no new oil and gas development can now take place if the world is to cut carbon emissions to zero overall – known as net zero – by 2050.

That is needed to keep temperature rises to no more than 1.5C to avoid the worst impacts of climate change, including increasingly extreme storms, floods, droughts, worsening wildlife and crop losses and rising seas.

In an update to its energy policy, HSBC said it will “no longer provide new lending or capital markets finance for the specific purpose of projects pertaining to new oil and gas fields and related infrastructure when the primary use is in conjunction with new fields”.

Reacting to the announcement, GB News’ Nigel Farage said: “HSBC will stop funding future oil and gas exploration and development projects. They're doing it because they want to help us meet our environmental targets.

“Oh, aren't they just so virtuous and so wonderful? Not only is this yet another self-inflicted act of lunacy on the United Kingdom, because we need people in those sectors. We need jobs, we need tax revenues.

“But we're going to have to use the gas and oil anyway. We'll just import it where it's produced somewhere else under worse environmental standards than here.

“This is the madness that has gripped the corporate world. It's damaging our country.

“We need a leader that stands up and says, ‘enough’.”

The bank also said it would continue to provide finance to maintain supplies of oil and gas in line with current and future declining demand, “whilst accelerating our activities to support clean energy deployment”.

In addition, it has updated its policy on coal, including prohibiting finance for new metallurgical coal mines – such as the one the Government has just greenlit in Cumbria to provide coking coal for steel production.