The world's local bank
HSBC Climate Partnership
Climate change is an urgent threat affecting people, their livelihoods and the world we live in and care about. To reduce the impacts of climate change, HSBC is partnering with four world-class environmental charities to launch a ground-breaking five-year global programme to inspire action by individuals, businesses and governments worldwide to alleviate the consequences for people, forest, water and cities.
"We need to manage through all our operations on our own carbon footprint, work with our clients and the millions of individuals whom we bank to encourage them to think about their carbon footprint and how they're going to respond to global climate change."
Stephen Green, Group Chairman of HSBC Holdings plc
This Partnership is the largest ever single corporate donation given by HSBC to each of the charity partners which include: The Climate Group, Earthwatch, The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) and WWF, as well as the largest employee engagement on climate change. The programme aims to:
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make some of the world's great cities - Hong Kong, Shanghai, Mumbai, London and New York - cleaner and greener, which we will promote as models for the world;
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create 'climate champions' worldwide who will undertake research and bring back valuable knowledge and experience to their communities;
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conduct the largest ever field experiment on the world's forests to measure carbon and the effects of climate change; and
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help to protect four of the world's major rivers - the Yangtze, Ganges, Amazon and Thames - from the impact of climate change, benefiting the 450 million people who rely on them.
Sustainable development benefits
- Up to 315,000 HSBC employees will have access to an online learning programme dedicated to climate change, with 25,000 of these staff directly engaged on local volunteering projects in key cities around the world.
- A further 3,000 staff and local community members will be directly engaged on regional research projects tackling climate change.
- Estimated staff learning time is 242,000 hours
- The STRI Global Earth Observatory system is increasing the quality of scientific data across 20 large-scale (up to 50 hectares or 120 acres in size) research plots in the forests of 17 countries.
- Earthwatch will develop 5 field centres in key forest locations around the world and will manage 8 research projects which will inform adaptive ecosystem management plans to help improve landscape resilience to climate change
- Improved management of freshwater systems globally will increase water security for 40 per cent of the global population (45 per cent of the earth's surface, 60 per cent of the world's running water). (Source: WWF)
- 100,000 people in mainland China will improve the sustainability of their farming techniques, increasing their income in the process. (Source: WWF)
- 40 new, influential organisations will be added to an international 'coalition of the willing' on climate change in Hong Kong, Beijing, Delhi, New York and London
- Four new sector-based leadership programmes for business and government partners will be created
Video
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Watch HSBC Climate Partnership launch video
(7.25MB, 03'00")
HBAP Executive Director Peter Wong, Head of Corporate Sustainability Asia-Pacific Region Teresa Au and Country Representative of WWF China Dermot O'Gorman unveil the HSBC Climate Partnership Programme.
The HSBC Climate Partnership launch ceremony offers a unique climate change experience to the journalists and guests which include Peter Wong, Teresa Au, Dermot O'Gorman, and the Bank volunteers.
Peter Wong gives a speech in the launch ceremony mentioning that the US$100 million investment in the partnership programme aims to inspire action by individuals, businesses and governments worldwide to improve climate change impacts for people, forests, water and cities in the next five years.
Teresa Au talks to two Wayfoong Volunteer members, Louise Lau and Carruk Wong who participated in past Earthwatch environmental projects about their 'climate change' experience in the launch ceremony.
Peter Wong answers questions from journalists in the launch ceremony.
Dermot O' Gorman says that the new climate partnership will reduce the impacts of climate change and HSBC can play a critical role in supporting the move to a low-carbon economy.
The 3-dimensional climate change experience in the launch ceremony.
Working with WWF and with the support of HSBC, local communities have adopted eco-fishing practices, which increase their income and reduce pollution on the Yangtze River in China. (Source: Zhou Huaikuan/WWF-China)
Sustainable fishing practices on the Purus River, near Sena Madureira, Brazil are supported by HSBC and its environmental partner WWF. (Source: Edward Parker/ WWF-Canon)
HSBC helped finance a deal to provide 1,800 low-emission buses, serving 4.5 million passengers a day in Santiago, Chile. (Source: Ito Cornelsen)
Researchers will create the largest ever field experiment on the quality and quantity of water flow in the Panama Canal, the most important watershed for world commerce with the support of HSBC. (Source: Christian Ziegler)
Paul's Hill wind farm in Scotland was financed by HSBC and is an example of the projects it will support under its carbon finance strategy.
Low carbon transport such as bicycles need to form a key part of the climate change solution, said HSBC at the launch of the HSBC Climate Partnership.
Smithsonian researchers measure a tree on Barro Colorado Island in Panama as part of one of the largest ever field experiments on climate change, currently supported through the HSBC Climate Partnership. (Source: Marcos Guerra/STRI )
HSBC volunteers test sea water samples in Brazil's Cananeia Estuary, as part of an Earthwatch research project. The bank expects 25,000 employees to be engaged in community volunteer projects as part of the HSBC Climate Partnership. (Source: Brent Stirton/Getty images/WWF)
An HSBC employee volunteers on a butterfly and orchid research project in Spain. The bank expects 25,000 employees to be engaged in community volunteer projects as part of the HSBC Climate Partnership. (Source: John Dover/Earthwatch)
Torre HSBC is located on Paseo de la Reforma in front of the Angel of Independence statue. It is regarded as the most environmentally advanced building of its kind in Latin America.
Low carbon transport such as bicycles need to form a key part of the climate change solution, said HSBC at the launch of the HSBC Climate Partnership.
Footprint Management projects
As a responsible international financial institution, we need to manage our business responsibly and sensitively. Only then could we produce long-term benefits in the communities we operate, socially, environmentally and economically.
Vincent Cheng
Chairman of The Hongkong and
Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited
