Rosie Venner, JustMoney Movement’s Director of Movement Building, was at HSBC’s AGM in London recently (2 May 2025) to question the bank on its climate commitments.
As the meeting opened, HSBC’s Group Chairman, Sir Mark Tucker, told shareholders, “We are making good progress” – referring to the bank’s net zero goals.
But just a day earlier, a new study found that UK banks – including HSBC – have poured more than $100bn (£75bn) into companies developing “carbon bombs” – huge oil, gas and coal projects that would push us past the goal of limiting warming to 1.5C, leading to catastrophic global consequences.
Something doesn’t add up. The bank’s Chairman was keen to stress the progress the bank is making against its climate strategy, but HSBC was heavily criticised earlier this year for pushing back its net zero targets for its own operations by 20 years. HSBC is also reviewing its financed emissions targets – the emissions associated with its financing and investment activities.
At JustMoney Movement, we believe banks have a major role to play in the transition to a greener economy. We’ve been engaging with HSBC over the last few years, shining a light on the bank’s activities. Our Don’t Bank on Plastics campaign drew attention to HSBC’s lending to plastic polymer producers, the sector that is the source of the world’s single-use plastic waste.
This year, we returned to the AGM to deliver a clear message: Stop financing new fossil fuels.
As shareholders arrived, Christian climate campaigners – including allies from Operation Noah, Laudato Si’ Movement and Christian Climate Action – were amongst those drawing attention to the impact of HSBC’s financing of oil and gas expansion.
Inside the AGM, I put a question to the Board on behalf of JustMoney Movement which referenced the ecumenical public statement we co-authored last year, signed by over 70 churches, Christian charities and institutions in Britain and Ireland.
We urged HSBC not to backtrack on existing climate commitments, and to show leadership by excluding financial services to companies developing new fossil fuel projects or expanding existing ones.
Others raised concerns too. Jesuits in Britain were present at the AGM as an institutional shareholder and asked a question about HSBC’s financing work for Glencore in 2023, a big coal producer. They were also part of a group of 30 investors managing £1.2 trillion in assets calling on the bank to restate its commitment to the net zero transition, in a question coordinated by ShareAction.
We also heard testimonies and challenging questions from Global South climate justice activists who spoke out about the impact of HSBC’s fossil fuel financing. They were almost prevented from speaking. As the Chairman attempted to close the meeting without hearing all the registered questions, campaigners urged the Board to listen to the voices of those most affected by the climate crisis.
Patience Nabukalu, a youth activist from Uganda, gave a moving account of how the climate crisis is affecting people and places she loves. Supported by Action Aid, Patience has been campaigning against the controversial East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP). HSBC is linked to the project, providing $1.78bn in finance to companies involved. She said: “Every year HSBC delays climate action, and every pound it pours into fossil fuels projects like the East African Crude Oil Pipeline, my community loses a little more.”
Avril de Torres, from the Protect VIP network – an international coalition of environmental and human rights organisations advocating to end fossil gas expansion in the Verde Island Passage (VIP), a marine biodiversity hotspot in the Philippines – questioned HSBC on the bank’s financing of San Miguel Corporation (SMC). For two years, the Protect VIP campaign has been engaging HSBC, demanding divestment from projects that put both the environment and frontline communities at risk.
“We first spoke about the Verde Island Passage in your AGM two years ago […] dubbed the ‘Amazon of the Oceans’. It sustains the livelihoods of millions of Filipinos,” de Torres said. “Yet it is threatened by massive fossil gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG) build-out, led by San Miguel Corporation – the same company responsible for chartering two tankers that spilled millions of litres of oil into the VIP. The poorest Filipinos, especially fisherfolk, continue to suffer the consequences to this day.”
What next?
Concerns around HSBC’s fossil fuel financing were heard loud and clear at the bank’s AGM. But the answers the bank gave were disappointingly vague. Now it’s time to keep up the pressure.
- Switch your current account to a greener bank with the Big Bank Switch
- Help your church to switch using our Greener, Fairer Banking Guide
- Get involved in future AGM activism – email info@justmoney.org.uk or join the JustMoney Champions network.
- Mark your calendar: 12 October is Good Money Sunday (part of Good Money Week) – a chance to build the movement for a greener, fairer use of money.
Together, we can push big banks like HSBC to stop financing climate chaos and start investing in a better future.