London, March 30, 2021 – HSBC has joined the Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials (PCAF) to help the bank measure and disclose its financed emissions as it works to achieve its net zero ambition.
PCAF is a collaboration between financial institutions worldwide to enable harmonized assessments and disclosures of greenhouse gas emissions financed by loans and investments. With more than 100 banks and investors from five continents, the group is rapidly expanding in North America, Latin America, Europe, Africa and Asia-Pacific.
In October 2020, the bank set out an ambitious climate strategy focused on aligning its provision of financing to net zero by 2050, or sooner, in line with the Paris Agreement goals. HSBC expects to provide between US$750 billion and US$1 trillion of finance and investment by 2030 to support its customers in the transition to net zero.
Earlier this month, HSBC set out the next phase of its climate strategy in a special resolution, to be tabled at this year’s Annual General Meeting. This proposes that the bank set out a strategy with short and medium term targets to align its provision of finance1 across all sectors to net zero, in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement2. The resolution also proposed a policy to phase out financing for coal-fired power and thermal coal mining by 2030 in OECD and EU markets, and 2040 globally, and to report annually on its progress
“When we set out our ambition to align our financed emissions to net zero by 2050 or sooner, in line with the Paris Agreement goals, we committed to work in partnership with our peers to enable the financial system to collectively tackle climate change.
Clear and consistent data and reporting are critical to enable banks like HSBC to set targets and track progress as they work towards ambitious net zero goals. We are therefore delighted to be joining PCAF to improve our ability to measure and disclose our financed emissions as we work to achieve our net zero ambition.”
Daniel Klier, Global Head of Sustainable Finance, HSBC
Media contacts
Rob Sherman, Media Relations, HSBC
robert.a.sherman@us.hsbc.com +1 646 939 6998
Angélica Afanador, Program Manager, PCAF Secretariat, info@carbonaccountingfinancials.com
Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials (PCAF)
In September 2019, the Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials (PCAF) was launched globally. Currently, more than 100 banks and investors have subscribed to the PCAF initiative. PCAF participants work together to jointly develop the Global GHG Accounting and Reporting Standard for the Financial Industry to measure and disclose the greenhouse emissions of their loans and investments. By doing so, PCAF participants take an important step to assess climate-related risks, set targets in line with the Paris Climate Agreement and develop effective strategies to decarbonize our society. For more information see https://carbonaccountingfinancials.com/
HSBC Holdings plc
HSBC Holdings plc, the parent company of HSBC, is headquartered in London. HSBC serves customers worldwide from offices in 64 countries and territories in its geographical regions: Europe, Asia, North America, Latin America, and Middle East and North Africa. With assets of US$2,984bn at 31 December 2020, HSBC is one of the world’s largest banking and financial services organisations.
Footnotes:
1 ‘Finance’ and ‘financing’ means providing project finance or direct lending to, or underwriting capital markets transactions for, corporate clients of [HSBC's] Global Banking and Commercial Banking businesses.
2 As set out by Article 2.1(a) and Article 4.1 of the Paris Agreement:
https://unfccc.int/files/essential_background/convention/application/pdf/english_paris_agreement.pdf
This news release is issued by
HSBC Holdings plc
