Thursday 20 May 2021

HSBC announces raft of UK partnerships to drive net zero progress

HSBC UK has joined forces with Imperial College London, the University of Birmingham and National Trust to drive net zero progress.

The banking giant says it wants to work with academic and not-for-profit organisations to help deliver the innovation and nature-based solutions needed to tackle climate change.

The bank has previously committed to phasing out coal investment by 2040, a deadline criticised by environmentalists for being far too slow.

The UK partnerships form part of the firm's Climate Solutions Partnership with the World Resources Institute and WWF, which is backed by $100 million (£70.8m) of HSBC funding over the next five years.

The bank will work with the two universities to support 150 start-ups working on projects to drive down emissions and protect the environment, with plans to continue assistance until December 2024.

It will also support 35 UK businesses in accelerator programmes each year.

Working with National Trust, two million trees will be planted to create 2,000 hectares of new woodland habitat by 2025 - this is enough woodland to capture 1.25 million tonnes of carbon dioxide.

Michaela Wright, Head of Corporate Sustainability, HSBC UK said: “Nature-based solutions can provide a third of the global climate mitigation needed by 2030, protecting nature as well as meeting people’s needs.

“Our ambition is to leverage our financial expertise with the knowledge and experience of our global partners to open the door for National Trust to explore new areas of agroforestry management and how nature-based solutions are being scaled and implemented to tackle the climate crisis internationally.”