Barclays is being added to the list of financial institutions restricted from contracts with the state of Oklahoma, the state’s treasurer, Todd Russ, announced Friday.
Russ’s office contended the bank has “publicly committed to boycott fossil-fuel companies,” according to an emailed statement to Bloomberg.
A 2022 Republican-backed law prohibits state agencies and political subdivisions from contracting with a company unless it provides a written verification confirming it does not boycott energy companies.
Barclays said in February it would no longer provide direct financing for any new upstream oil and gas, thermal coal expansion projects or related infrastructure. It also unveiled a framework meant to track its progress against a prior commitment to allocate $1 tr’illion in sustainable and transition financing by 2030.
“Oklahomans tax dollars and state pension funds will not be used to sabotage the state’s vital fossil fuel-based industries, whether those strategies target current investment policies or long-term goals,” the treasurer’s office said in a statement Friday.
Oklahoma last year placed BlackRock, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, State Street and eight other institutions on its restricted list.
Barclays this year also ran afoul of Oklahoma’s neighbor, Texas. The state’s attorney general, Ken Paxton, banned the British bank in January from participating in Texas’s municipal bond market over similar accusations regarding fossil fuels.
Paxton’s office questioned Barclays in November as to whether it or any of its affiliates is a Net Zero Alliance member. Barclays said it could not provide further information, leading to the ban and label as a “fossil fuel boycotter.”
In Oklahoma, Russ’s office sends a questionnaire to financial firms requesting written verification of their alignment with the 2022 state law. Oklahoma gives government entities 30 days after a bank is put on a restricted list to report their direct and indirect holdings to that company. The restricted companies, meanwhile, have 90 days to convince Oklahoma they don’t belong on the list.
A recent study published by the Oklahoma Rural Association found that the state is incurring “avoidable” costs because of the 2022 law. The study, released last month, estimates that in the 17 months since the law's implementation, the state has incurred almost $185 million in added expenses.
State lawmakers in April said they are considering narrowing the 2022 law’s scope so local governments aren’t affected.
Such anti-ESG state-based legislation has taken hold in other states with a considerable fossil-fuel footprint. Kentucky, in 2023, ordered its state pension funds and other governmental entities to divest from JPMorgan Chase, Citi, BlackRock and eight other financial institutions. West Virginia in 2022 placed BlackRock, JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley on a restricted list. The state last month added Citi, TD, HSBC and Northern Trust to that list.
Texas lists 11 restricted financial institutions, including HSBC, BNP Paribas and UBS. Some U.S. banks like JPMorgan, Wells Fargo and Goldman Sachs were on early drafts of the Texas list but were eventually dropped. BlackRock stands as the only U.S.-based finance company restricted for its fossil-fuel stances.
