"HSBC’s Dirtiest Deals", May 2021

UK-headquartered HSBC is one of the biggest financiers of fossil fuels in the world. The influential Banking on Climate Chaos report demonstrates that HSBC has financed US$110.7 billion to fossil fuels since the Paris climate agreement was signed. [...] Together, the small selection of HSBC projects we highlight here, once they are all operational, will emit 523 million tonnes of CO2 every year – more than the entire annual emissions of either Canada or Brazil, or nearly one and a half times the annual CO2 emissions of the UK.

HSBC claims to be a leader in sustainable finance. But our findings show it is a leader in human suffering. The companies HSBC are happy to fund ruin lives. In Mozambique, a HSBC-funded gas project exacerbates an insurgency that has seen unimaginable brutality and left thousands dead. In Kazakhstan, the bank supports the Tengiz oil project, which has been linked to the alleged poisoning of communities from a deadly gas that is the by-product of oil extraction. In North America, HSBC’s funding for pipeline companies helps enable brutal repression of protesters and runs the risk of poisoning lands held sacred by indigenous peoples. [...]

HSBC’s approach to its climate change and energy policies needs more than just tweaks. It needs a complete overhaul, with clear phase-out dates for coal, oil and gas, at the pace that science demands. [...]