HSBC Holdings PLC
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Articles in the Press
MI Summary
December 2004 saw HSBC make a commitment to become the world’s first major bank to achieve carbon neutrality. The corporations Carbon Management Plan consists of three phases, the first phase is energy efficiency where they aim to reduce pollution via improved environmental performance, the second stage involves the purchase of green electricity and in the final stage any remaining carbon dioxide emissions will be offset. HSBC have purchased offset credits from a number of programs in the past e.g. wind farms, organic waste composting, and agricultural methane capture and biomass co-generation.
Although showing a commitment to becoming carbon neutral the company do not go in to great depth on other environmental initiatives, if any, they are pursuing. In addition to this the website does not provide any targets beyond 2007, thus it is hard to see how they intend to act in the future with regards to environmental responsibility.
Text of Article
HSBC and the Environment
HSBC is helping to tackle one of the world’s biggest environmental challenges, climate change, by becoming the first major bank to go carbon neutral. Our carbon neutrality plan is being implemented worldwide under the direct supervision of the Group Chief Executive.
HSBC's Carbon Management Task Force is using three main methods to achieve carbon neutrality:
- 1. Energy efficiency Reducing pollution through improved environmental performance also reduces cost. Investments being made across the HSBC Group to improve energy efficiency include low-energy lighting, variable speed drives in air conditioners and more efficient heat management systems.
- 2. Green electricity In Australia, Brazil, the UK and the US, HSBC is buying 'green electricity', generated without the use of fossil fuels.
- 3. Offsetting We must offset our remaining carbon dioxide emissions using carbon 'allowances' or 'credits'.
Our carbon neutral commitment is part of a package of environmental measures that also includes a three-year £650,000 (US$1.2 million) research partnership; HSBC Partnership in Environmental Innovation, with University of Newcastle Upon Tyne and the University of East Anglia in the UK.
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Carbon Neutral Project
The impacts of climate change are potentially devastating. The Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change, established by the UN, believes there is no longer any reasonable doubt that climate change is a reality and that human activities are largely responsible for increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases in the earth’s atmosphere.
If emissions are not curbed, warming trends will accelerate further. The negative consequences to life on earth will be profound.
HSBC’s response "...climate change represents the largest single environmental challenge this century. It will have an impact on all aspects of modern life. It is, therefore, a major issue for our customers and our staff, as well as for every organisation on the planet, no mater how large or how small. Sir John Bond, HSBC Group Chairman, speaking at the launch in April 2004 of the Climate Group, an international non-governmental organisation.
On 6 December 2004, HSBC made a commitment to become the world’s first major bank to achieve carbon neutrality. The target was 2006. We in fact achieved this three months early. Our Carbon Management Plan consists of three phases. First, to manage and reduce our direct emissions. Second, to reduce the carbon intensity of the electricity we use by buying ‘green electricity’. Finally, to offset the remaining emissions in order to achieve carbon neutrality.
Group-wide emission reduction targets, announced in July 2005, commit HSBC to reducing its carbon dioxide emissions by 5 per cent by 2007. To co-ordinate the implementation of the plan, HSBC has set up a Carbon Management Task Force spearheaded by the Group Chief Executive, Stephen Green. The task force comprises HSBC’s Corporate, Investment Banking and Markets’ Project Finance, and Energy and Utility Sector teams, Credit and Risk, Corporate Real Estate; and Group Corporate Affairs. The task force is advised by the Climate Group and ICF Consulting, an international consultancy.
As a ‘dry run’, HSBC offset its Group-wide emissions for the last quarter of 2005. To offset the total emissions amount (170,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide +- 5%), HSBC has bought 170,000 tonnes of carbon offset credits from four offset projects around the world:
- Project 1: Te Apiti wind farm, in North Island, New Zealand
Carbon reduction: 125,000 tonnes Situated on 1,150 hectares of farmland, the project consists of 55 turbines with a capacity of 1.65 megawatts each. The wind farm is capable of generating enough electricity for 45,000 average-size homes. Since the turbines began supplying power, Te Apiti has been operating at around 45 per cent of maximum capacity compared with an international average of only 30 per cent. This is one of the first projects validated by the Gold Standard, which ensures both additionality and the greatest sustainable development benefits.
- Project 2: Organic waste composting, in Victoria, Australia
Carbon reduction: 15,000 tonnes When waste is placed in landfill, it creates methane, which can produce a greenhouse warming effect. By composting the waste using aerobic methods, methane is not produced but carbon dioxide is generated instead, which has a smaller global warming potential. The emission reduction credits are issued by the Australian Greenhouse Friendly scheme and the verification of carbon offset is carried out by an independent party approved by the Australian Greenhouse Office.
- Project 3: Sandbeiendorf agricultural methane capture, in Sandbeiendorf, Gemany
Carbon reduction: 14,000 tonnes Under the project, fresh manure from cattle and pig are no longer stored in open tanks or in lagoons, but it is fed into a biogas plant and converted into renewable heat and electricity by an attached combined heat and power generation unit, with an overall reduction in methane emissions by approximately 90 per cent. Moreover, a smaller amount of carbon dioxide is produced by replacing the use of fossil fuel for heating agricultural buildings with renewable heat from the combined heat and power unit, and the project also produces fewer emissions though converting the methane into carbon dioxide.
- Project 4: Vensa Biotek biomass co-generation, in Andhra Pradesh, India
Carbon reduction: 16,000 tonnes The aim of the project is to generate electricity from agricultural biomass for the production of liquid glucose and starch, replacing the power drawn from India’s state electricity grid and exporting the surplus power to it. This project has multiple benefits for the local population. There is both a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and in particulate emissions and ash generation associated with the burning of coal, which is a major fuel in Andhra Pradesh. Feeding additional power to the state grid improves the reliability of power supply and stabilises the voltage; and the business opportunities created help the economic development of rural Andhra Pradesh.
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Environmental Targets
Energy and CO2 As at December 2005, we reduced our overall energy usage by 5% thereby also reducing our CO2 emissions from energy use. We achieved energy reductions through initiatives including:
- installing better boiler controls and improving branch heating and cooling systems
- trialling LED lighting
- purchasing green electricity in the UK and the US
Water We showed a reduction of 1% in our water consumption at year-end 2005 through initiatives including:
- installing automatic switch off devices
- improving operations in water management
- better control of cooling towers
Waste Our overall waste figure increased by 11% by year end 2005 due to enhanced data capture and coverage in France and Brazil during the reporting period and in part to re-branding and re-signing. We recently started a number of waste reduction and recycling pilot projects across the Group, including our head office building in the UK where we removed 6,500 personal rubbish bins from desks and installed communal recycling bins. (3)
Environmental Performance
