In a move towards environmental responsibility, HSBC, one of the world’s largest international banks, has unveiled its Net Zero Transition Plan.
The comprehensive strategy outlines the bank’s commitment to achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050 and aligning its financing portfolio accordingly. HSBC aims to reduce its on-balance sheet financed emissions and set emissions targets for key carbon-intensive sectors by 2030.
The bank has pledged to provide between $750 billion and $1 trillion in sustainable finance and investment by 2030, signaling a significant shift towards green financing.
“Our first net zero transition plan is an important milestone in our journey to achieving our net zero ambition. Our aim is to help our people, customers, investors, and other stakeholders understand our long-term vision, the challenges and dependencies that exist, and the progress we are making in our own transition. We also want to demonstrate how we intend to harness our strengths and capabilities in the areas where we believe we can best support large-scale emissions reductions: transitioning industry, catalyzing the new economy, and decarbonizing
trade and supply chains,” said Noel Quinn, Group Chief Executive, HSBC, in the foreword of the plan.
The plan is organized into three sections:
- Vision and Strategic Approach: Details the bank’s vision for financing the transition to net zero emissions. The approach includes leveraging the bank’s strengths to make impactful financing and investment choices, engaging with customers on sector transitions, setting sectoral emissions targets, and evolving progress towards them.
- Sector Transitions: HSBC examined key economic sectors such as energy supply, automotive, aviation, shipping, cement, chemicals, mining, real estate, food, forests, and other land use to support sector decarbonization. It identified technologies, investment needs, and external dependencies required for a viable net zero pathway by 2050 while highlighting risks to achieving a 1.5°C-aligned path by 2030.
- Implementation Plan: Details integrating net zero principles into customer support, operational functions, risk management, policies, governance, and external partnerships to enable the transition to net zero across the markets served by HSBC.
“We are present in the regions, the markets, and the sectors that arguably make the biggest impact in terms of future emissions. We have an opportunity to support them in making the transition and catalyzing the new economy, following the science and leveraging our entrepreneurial spirit,” said Celine Herweijer, Group Chief Sustainability Officer, HSBC.
