(19 December 2022 – Hong Kong) HSBC will halt funding new oil and gas fields as part of a wider appraisal of the group’s sector based corporate lending policy.
The bank is currently one of the largest lenders to energy companies globally and will continue to provide financing at a corporate level to support their transition to less carbon intensive power sources.
Activist groups that have been critical of HSBC in recent years applauded the policy shift, keenly awaiting the update that will drive companies towards a cleaner future.
“We have the biggest transformation in the global economy happening ever, energy is the backbone of the global economy over the next three decades, and we have to do that [transition] in a responsible way where we have a better match between supply and demand ” said HSBC’s Chief Sustainability Officer, Celine Herweijer.