Protecting the Environment
HSBC has a long standing commitment to protecting the environment and believes it is fundamental to a thriving society and sound economy – upon which business depends.
HSBC has a long standing commitment to protecting the environment and believes it is fundamental to a thriving society and sound economy – upon which business depends.
The activities of the bank impact the environment in two main ways:
- directly, through the operations of our buildings, IT systems and business travel;
- indirectly, through the business of our customers.
In 2005, HSBC was the first bank and FTSE100 company to become carbon neutral. We manage our direct impact on the environment by operating as efficiently as possible and integrating environmental measures throughout our functions. We have four-year targets for energy use, water use, waste and carbon dioxide which ran to the end of 2011. We will report on how we performed against those targets – and explain how we achieved carbon neutrality for the year – in our Sustainability Report 2011, available in May.
In 2012, we will introduce our new plan to continue to manage the environmental impacts of our operations.
We manage our indirect impacts through working closely with corporate customers to manage the social and environmental risks of their business, against strict guidelines, and to maximise the opportunities to develop more sustainable solutions.
