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Richard Curtis, Emma Thompson and Deborah Meaden are among celebrities who have called on Wimbledon to end its new partnership with Barclays over the bank’s multibillion-pound support for fossil fuel projects.
As the 2023 championships were starting in July, the group claims the sponsorship deal, reportedly worth at least £20m a year, is damaging the club’s reputation.
Financing climate chaos
In an open letter to Sally Bolton, the chief executive of the All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC), the campaigners said: “Put simply, Barclays is financing and profiting from climate chaos, and accepting a sponsorship deal from them is an endorsement of these actions.”
Caroline Lucas, the Green party MP, retail consultant Mary Portas, Dr Mya-Rose Craig, the British-Bangladeshi ornithologist also known as Birdgirl, and Christiana Figueres, who was head of the UN climate change convention that achieved the Paris agreement adopted in 2015 and effective from 2016, are among those who have signed the letter. Greenpeace UK, the Big Issue Group and Global Witness are also backing the campaign.
Inconsistent with Wimbledon's legacy
The multi-year partnership was announced in November with Barclays replacing HSBC after 15 years. Curtis and the letter’s other signatories argue that the deal is “inconsistent with Wimbledon’s cultural legacy and environmental policies”.
“Barclays is Europe’s largest fossil fuel funder, providing over $190bn to the industry since the Paris climate agreement in 2016. They are also a set behind their peers like HSBC and Lloyds: they’ve failed to rule out direct financing for new oil and gas, the most important commitment of all now,” Curtis stated.
The campaigners added that a survey of 2,000 UK adults, conducted by Make My Money Matter, showed that 42% of respondents said Wimbledon should drop Barclays as a sponsor, while 13% said they should not.