LONDON (AFP) – British banking giant HSBC on Tuesday (Dec 14) published a plan to stop financing thermal coal activities but drew immediate criticism from environmentalists for not going far enough.<\/p>\n
HSBC said in October last year that it wanted to achieve a net-zero financing portfolio by 2050, in line with the 2015 Paris Agreement on limiting global warming to 1.5 Celsius.<\/p>\n
Under the plans, it said it will “not provide new finance to any client for the specific purpose of activities that HSBC considers incompatible” with that target.<\/p>\n
The plan commits to phasing out financing of thermal coal mining or coal-fired power generation in the EU and OECD by 2030 and the rest of the world by 2040.<\/p>\n
It also aims to publish a science-based emissions target next year, and has set a target of reducing its exposure to thermal coal financing by at least 25 percent by 2025.<\/p>\n
Campaign group Reclaim Finance, which lobbies for a greener financial sector, said the plan by HSBC “does not put a hard stop to its financing of the coal sector”.<\/p>\n
It said the bank provided US$4.1 billion (S$5.6 billion) to companies planning new coal plants and US$15 billion to the entire coal industry, including in energy-hungry Asia.<\/p>\n
“Financial institutions who are serious in their net-zero commitments should instead blacklist all coal developers, without exception,” it added.<\/p>\n
ShareAction, a non-governmental organisation campaigning for responsible and sustainable finance, welcomed HSBC’s progress in cutting coal-related corporate finance and the extension to asset management.<\/p>\n
But it said there were “disappointing loopholes… which allow for the continued financing of top coal companies and developers whose activities would take us past the 1.5C threshold”.<\/p>\n
Find out more about climate change and how it could affect you on the ST microsite here.<\/p>\n