Laura Barlow, Barclays’ group head of sustainability, has stepped down to pursue other opportunities, marking a notable departure as the financial sector faces growing scrutiny over its climate commitments.

Under Barlow’s leadership, Barclays implemented new restrictions on lending to energy companies expanding fossil fuel production in early 2024. The bank has also committed to facilitating $1 trillion in sustainable and transition finance by 2030, although critics continue to rank it among the world’s top fossil fuel financiers.

Daniel Hanna, former head of sustainable finance, has been appointed group head of sustainable and transition finance. He now reports to senior leaders across Barclays’ public policy, corporate responsibility, investment banking, and global markets division

Barlow’s departure comes at a time of increasing tension between climate initiatives and political pressures, particularly in the US, where Barclays generates over 30 per cent of its revenue.

The US has seen a growing backlash against financial institutions engaging in environmentalist capitalism. This resistance was underscored recently by the withdrawal of America’s five largest banks—JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, Bank of America, and Goldman Sachs—from Mark Carney’s Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (Gfanz), a group launched to encourage banks to commit to clean energy investments and reduce reliance on fossil fuels.

BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, last week also announced its departure from a similar group, the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative (NZAMI).

This Republican-led resistance to "green capitalism" has intensified, with the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump prioritising fossil fuels. Trump’s pledge to “drill, baby, drill” starkly contrasts with Europe’s steadfast support for climate initiatives, including Barclays’ continued membership in the Net Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA), a key subgroup of Gfanz. Despite this US exodus, 80 European banks, including HSBC, Barclays, Lloyds, NatWest, and Nationwide, still remain members of the NZBA.

A spokesperson emphasized that Barlow’s decision to step down was unrelated to the US political climate, highlighting her continued role as a senior advisor to the bank, with Hanna’s appointment is viewed as an effort to integrate sustainability more deeply across Barclays’ investment and policy operations, ensuring a more resilient and adaptive approach to green finance.

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