HSBC, under pressure on climate policies, to stop funding new oil and gas projects

Name: 30 years of climate summits: Have they made a difference?
Uploaded: 2022-12-14T18:04:24.000Z
Duration: 2 min 18 s
Description: 30 years of climate summits: Have they made a difference?

The bank says it will still provide financing and advisory services to energy sector clients at the corporate level

HSBC has faced pressure from activists and shareholders to do more to address climate change

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Climate campaigners have previously called for HSBC to end its relationship with oil and gas providers. Photo: Bloomberg

Chad Brayin London

Published: 2:04am, 15 Dec 2022Updated: 2:49am, 15 Dec 2022

HSBC said it would stop providing financing to new oil and gas projects, as well as metallurgical coal mines, as it and other lenders face pressure from shareholders and activists over their climate policies.

As part of its updated energy policy, HSBC said it would continue to provide financing and advisory services to energy sector clients at the corporate level when the client’s transition plans are consistent with its 2030 targets and its goal of reaching net-zero emissions in its lending portfolio by 2050.

“The International Energy Agency’s 2021 Net Zero by 2050 report states that an orderly transition requires continued financing and investment in existing oil and gas fields to maintain the necessary output – with 2020 financing levels maintained through 2030 and declining to half thereafter,” HSBC said in its updated policy statement.

“We will therefore continue to provide finance to maintain supplies of oil and gas in line with current and future declining global oil and gas demand, whilst accelerating our activities to support clean energy deployment,” the bank added.

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30 years of climate summits: Have they made a difference?

HSBC, the biggest of Hong Kong’s three currency-issuing banks, has said it would provide up to US$1 trillion in transition financing and investment to clients by 2030.

Last year, the London-based bank also committed to ending financing of coal mining and coal-fired power plants in the European Union and countries that make up the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) by 2030, and a decade later elsewhere. It has not financed a new coal plant since 2018.