Today, the British bank HSBC has bowed to investor pressure by ramping up its climate commitments and tabling a shareholder vote on plans to phase out coal financing by 2040. HSBC's vote will be binding if it gains the approval of 75% of shareholders. According to a recent Urgewald report, HSBC is one of the leading banks behind the global coal industry, having provided over $15 billion in loans and underwriting services to coal companies between Oct 2018 and Oct 2020.
Katrin Ganswindt, Finance Campaigner at Urgewald, said:
"HSBC is the European bank with the biggest exposure to coal on the Asian market. The fact that they are defining an end-date for their coal financing is a long overdue step. It remains to be seen if they will implement stringent thresholds to flesh out their coal exit. The next step should be clear: coal developers have to go immediately. HSBC should avoid making the same mistakes as Standard Chartered, who will only start implementing meaningful thresholds at the end of the decade."
Adam McGibbon, Campaigner at Market Forces UK, said:
"This HSBC announcement leaves Barclays - the biggest funder of fossil fuels in Europe - as the sole UK bank facing an independent climate resolution at its AGM this year. It piles the pressure on Barclays to kick its fossil fuel addiction in the run-up to crucial COP26 climate talks in Glasgow in November."
Contacts:
Jacey Bingler, Communications Coordinator, Urgewald
jacey@urgewald.org, +49 175 521 7571
Beau O'Sullivan, Senior Communications Campaigner, The Sunrise Project
beau.osullivan@sunriseproject.org.au, +44 7950 299491