HSBC pledges to provide $100 billion in sustainable financing and investment by 2025 to help tackle climate change and support sustainable growth in the communities it serves.

The bank will intensify its support for clean energy and lower-carbon technologies, as well as projects that support the implementation of the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals, , the bank said in a statement yesterday.

HSBC also pledges to source 100 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030, with an interim target of 90 percent by 2025.

By signing long-term agreements with suppliers, the bank aims to support the development of new renewable power facilities, it said.

The bank plans to reduce its exposure to thermal coal and actively manage the transition path for other high-carbon sectors. This includes discontinuing financing of new coal-fired power plants in developed markets and of thermal coal mines worldwide.

HSBC will adopt the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures to improve transparency.

It will lead and shape the debate about sustainable finance and investment. This includes promoting the development of industry-wide definitions and standards.

Group Chief Executive Stuart Gulliver said: “For more than a decade, HSBC has helped clients break new ground in the green bond markets in Europe and Asia, and to finance some of the biggest climate-friendly infrastructure projects in the world.”

“The $100 billion commitment that we are announcing today acknowledges the scale of the challenge in making a transition to a low-carbon future. We are committed to being a leading global partner to the public and private sectors as they make that transition.”

Peter Wong, deputy chairman and chief executive for HSBC Asia-Pacific, said: “Asia will play a critical role in driving the global transition to a low-carbon future.”

“The fast-growing economies, thriving businesses and increasingly prosperous consumer segments in this region stand to significantly benefit from a conscious shift to sustainable choices, practices and investments, Wong said.

“With HSBC's new commitments, which include $100 billion of sustainable financing and investments, as well as the proactive management of the bank's own environmental footprint, policies and practices, we hope to help our customers, partners and the communities we support, respond to the enormous challenges posed by climate change and capture opportunities that sustainable growth can offer to all.”

The pledges build on HSBC's long-standing involvement in green and sustainable finance, Wong added.

Over recent years, it has played a leading role in developing voluntary standards for issuers of green bonds and social bonds, issued its own €500 million green bond and won recognition for the quality of its research into climate change.

HSBC announced the new commitments in an update on the action it is taking to meet its social, environmental and governance responsibilities.

The bank has continued to improve its own environmental performance in key areas. Over the past year, HSBC has reduced water usage by 9 percent, carbon emissions by 9 percent and energy consumption by 13 percent.

It has also signed agreements with clean energy producers to source 24 percent of its electricity from renewable sources.