HSBC targets net zero emissions by 2050, earmarks US$ 1 trln green financing

LONDON (Reuters) - HSBC will target net zero carbon emissions across its entire customer base by 2050 at the latest, and provide between US$ 750 billion and US$ 1 trillion in financing to help clients make the transition, Chief Executive Noel Quinn told Reuters.

The pledge is the strongest statement by Europe’s biggest bank on climate change to date, although it met with criticism from some environmental groups for not taking more immediate action to curb its fossil
fuel financing.

“COVID has been a wake-up call to us all, including me personally. We have seen how fragile the global economy is to a major event, in this case a health event, and it brings home the reality of what a major climate event could do,” Quinn told Reuters in a video interview.

HSBC aims to achieve net zero emissions in its own operations by 2030, he added.

While other UK banks such as NatWest NWG.L have already set similar net zero goals, HSBC’s aim to achieve it across its huge Asia-focused client base is one of the most significant pledges made by a global lender to-date.

However, the bank will be closely watched for how quickly and fully it pursues its new goals, which are mainly stated as aims rather than hard commitments.

It will also face scrutiny on whether it has allowed itself leeway to continue financing some fossil fuel-linked clients, especially in developing markets.

HSBC has come under increasing pressure from activists, shareholders and politicians who say it is contributing to climate change by financing environmentally harmful projects.

Quinn said the bank was focused on expanding its capital markets-focused carbon transition policies to a broader one encompassing all its activities across financing, asset management, and corporate and retail banking.

“What we have given the market is an ambition that our total financing by 2050 will be net zero, that is a far bigger prize or goal than picking a sub-segment of our portfolio and saying ‘I am not going to bank you’ because that’s not what the world needs,” he said.

“That industry or that customer may then just go to Bank X, Bank Y or Bank Z. They won’t have changed their business model.”

Critics have said HSBC lagged peers in responding to the climate challenge and risked losing out to rivals such as BNP Paribas that are ahead on setting carbon reduction targets.

This week, Wall Street heavyweight JPMorgan became the latest bank to expand investment in clean energy and work towards net zero emissions by 2050, in line with the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate.

With many Asian clients directly connected to or reliant on the coal sector - from which emissions are a leading contributor to global warming - HSBC is in a relatively tougher position.

It gave no detail on plans to tighten its policy on lending to the coal industry - still a key driver of many Asian economies - in a move likely to anger campaigners.

Instead, the bank said it would apply “a climate lens” to financing decisions and would also continue to take into account “the unique conditions for our clients across developed and developing economies”.