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* Activists shatter 19 windows at HSBC
* HSBC says vandalism is not okay
* Extinction Rebellion says HSBC finances coal power
* Police arrest 9 activists for smashing windows
(Adds HSBC comment)
By Guy Faulconbridge and Lawrence White
LONDON, April 22 (Reuters) - Climate activists shattered 19
windows at HSBC's headquarters in London's Canary Wharf
on Thursday as part of a protest against the financing of what
the group says is devastating climate change that threatens the
planet.
The female activists from the Extinction Rebellion group
used hammers to break the windows and pasted stickers on them
before sitting down to wait for the police to arrest them, a
Reuters reporter at the scene said.
"Despite HSBC's pledge to shrink its carbon footprint to net
zero by 2050, their current climate plan still allows the bank
to finance coal power, and provides no basis to turn away
clients or cancel contracts based on links to the fossil fuel
industry," Extinction Rebellion said in a statement.
A spokesman for HSBC said the bank welcomed meaningful
dialogue on its climate strategy but that it could not "condone
vandalism or actions that put people and property at risk".
The bank said it aimed to be net zero carbon emissions by
2030 and to phase out the financing of coal-fired power and
thermal coal mining by 2040 globally.
"We have an ambition to be net zero by 2030 and to bring our
financed emissions to net zero by 2050," the HSBC spokesman
said.
Extinction Rebellion wants to prompt a wider revolt against
the political, economic and social structures of the modern
world to avert the worst scenarios of devastation outlined by
scientists studying climate change.
The group, which brought parts of London to a standstill in
2019, broke windows at the headquarters of Barclays two
weeks ago as it focuses on the finance sector.
"It’s time to stand up and be counted," said Gully Bujak,
28, from Extinction Rebellion. "Doing this today may land us in
prison but we’re on the right side of history."
The activists referenced the struggle of the Suffragettes
who used direct action to fight for votes for women in the early
20th Century.
(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Kate Holton and
Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
