HSBC To Stop Funding New Oil And Gas Field Projects

(RTTNews) - As part of a policy to support and finance a net-zero transition, HSBC said on Wednesday that it will stop funding new oil and gas field developments and related infrastructure.

In an update on its energy policy, the bank said, "We will no longer provide new lending or capital markets finance for the specific purpose of projects pertaining to new oil and gas fields and related infrastructure when the primary use is in conjunction with new fields."

At the same time, HSBC plans to accelerate activities and financing clean energy projects. "Given the parallel urgency of today's global energy crisis, we plan to accelerate our activities in renewable energy and clean infrastructure, aligned with our previously announced ambition to provide $750 billion to $1 trillion in sustainable finance and investment by 2030," said the bank.

As early as in 2021, some of the largest institutional shareholders of HSBC had asked the bank to announce a strategy to reduce its exposure to lending money to fossil fuel development.

Still, HSBC will continue to provide finance or advisory services to energy sector clients at the corporate level, where clients' transition plans are consistent with the bank's 2030 portfolio-level targets and net-zero by 2050 commitment, the bank said. Earlier this year, a report by environmental groups showed that the 60 largest banks in the world poured as much as $742 billion in fossil fuel financing in 2021 alone. On the whole, fossil fuel financing remained dominated by four American banks, as JPMorgan Chase, Citi, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America.