An Extinction Rebellion (XR) group has held a protest outside a Barclays Bank branch in Watford opposing the company's fossil fuel investments.

Climate activists from XR Dacorum, with supporters from Watford Quakers, visited the bank in the town centre at lunchtime on August 10.

They put up a sign claiming Barclays is a “dirty bank” whilst fake oil was poured over the heads of two kneeling activists.

Barclays says it believes it can “make a real contribution to tackling climate change and help accelerate the transition to a low-carbon economy”.

XR held the protest the day after the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report was published.

It drew a stark picture of the impact humans are having through activities such as burning fossil fuels – and the future the globe faces if it fails to rapidly tackle the crisis.

The world will reach or exceed temperature rises of 1.5C – a limit countries have pledged to try to keep to in order to avoid the most dangerous consequences of warming – over the next two decades, the report says.

UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres described the report as a “code red for humanity”.

At the protest in Watford, XR activists addressed passers-by with quotes from the report and said Barclays was the focus of their protest for its involvement in fossil fuels.

Watford Observer: The protest in Watford town centre The protest in Watford town centre

According to CityAM, the bank increased its financing of fossil fuel firms and provided $24.58bn (£18.55bn) in underwriting and lending to major fossil fuel companies between January and September last year.

A spokesperson from XR said: “In 2020 Barclays, far from attempting to phase out this fossil fuel financing in the face of a Climate and Ecological Emergency, increased it, facilitating even more oil extraction.”

They added that the bank "must divest from the industry that is destroying life on earth".

Barclays says its ambition is to be a net zero bank by 2050.

A Barclays spokesperson said: “We have made a commitment to align our entire financing portfolio to the goals of the Paris Agreement, with specific targets and transparent reporting, on the way to achieving our ambition to be a net zero bank by 2050.

"We believe that Barclays can make a real contribution to tackling climate change and help accelerate the transition to a low-carbon economy.”