Michael Kind, Development Officer at Sheffield Students� Union�s, blogs about the actions taking place on his campus to boycott Barclay�s for their role in the climate crisis.

I�m launching a campaign for our students� union to boycott Barclays.

Why? Because Barclays are complicit in funding the climate crisis both locally and globally.

You�ve probably heard about fracking right? An essential part of the government�s energy strategy that essentially has no benefit in tackling climate change and poses �substantial risks� to human health.

Barclays own 97 per cent of Third Energy, the company with the first drilling license in the UK - in North Yorkshire.

On a global scale they fund fossil fuel extraction projects. A 2014 report found that Barclays had invested �15.6 billion into the fossil fuel industry. Notably, Barclays has recently funded coal extraction in Colombia, and tar sands extraction in Canada - both resources widely considered at odds with any attempt to tackle the climate crisis.

Doing this is massively important in the context of a students� union. In Sheffield we are �committed to creating a fairer and liberated society,� and at a national level the NUS has a number of committed liberation campaigns. The climate crisis exacerbates gendered and racialized forms of oppression in particular - with the majority of those facing the most adverse effects women and people of colour. As an example, the Barclays-funded coal mine in Colombia has clear neo-colonial overtones.

This is a clear moral imperative to respond to the climate crisis.

This week is a national week of action against Barclays for these reasons, with a student-organised protest happening in Sheffield on Saturday, and a craftivism on Friday evening. There�ll definitely be something going on where you are so keep a look out! Barclays are increasingly becoming a target for those fighting the climate crisis in the UK - and Students� Unions need to be a part of this! By publicly separating ourselves from Barclays we start to challenge their social power to operate in the way they do.

If you�ve got doubts about this as a process then read into the mass boycott of Barclays by SU�s for funding apartheid in the 70s and 80s and the successful effect that had. If anything it�s all the more reason to ban them - something clearly hasn�t changed�

Other SU�s - get on board too! This will be far more successful if lots of us get involved. If you�re a student then set up your own campaign to lobby your SU, or if you�re an officer then set the wheels in motion!

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