ActionAid ditches HSBC over climate damage

After years of raising the alarm over HSBC’s climate record and net-zero plans, ActionAid, one of the bank’s major customers, announced today that it is moving its money elsewhere.

The anti-poverty charity has also published a report estimating that HSBC helped pump £153bn into fossil fuels and industrial agriculture in a recent two-year period.

ActionAid said this facilitated almost as many planet-heating emissions as was generated by the entire UK last year and caused around £128bn in climate-related damages.

The charity said its commitment to climate justice was directly at odds with the bank’s actions, which are harming communities around the world.

“HSBC’s financing of environmentally destructive industries has been well documented but this report reveals how deep the harm runs,” said Hannah Bond, co-CEO of ActionAid’s UK branch. “Billions are still flowing from City boardrooms into industries driving the climate crisis, with huge impacts on human rights. And it’s the communities we work with, especially women and girls, who are left to carry the burden.”

The news comes after revelations by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism that HSBC has broken its own green pledges; used so-called “sustainable finance” to fund companies fuelling the climate crisis; and led coordinated efforts to water down action on climate change in the banking sector. Our reporting prompted ActionAid and several investors to call out the bank for failing to live up to its promises.

Last month, Zahra Hdidou, senior climate and resilience advisor at ActionAid, described TBIJ’s revelation that HSBC had breached its coal policy as “really shocking”.

“It's disgraceful to see that HSBC yet again violated its own pledge to stop financing companies building new coal plants,” she said. “This failure to follow its own policy severely undermines efforts to tackle the climate crisis and undermines the little credibility it has left on climate action.”

An HSBC spokesperson said: “We follow a clear set of sustainability risk policies which support our ambition to align the financed emissions in our portfolio to net zero by 2050.” They said the bank does not comment on client relationships, including whether someone is a client or not.

Action Aid said it has now closed the majority of its HSBC accounts in the UK, moving deposits to Lloyds, whose financing more closely aligns with its principles. The charity said it would keep two HSBC accounts open temporarily to avoid disruption to regular donations.

Bond said: “HSBC’s investments show it is choosing profit over people and planet. Moving our money is not just symbolic; it’s a vital first step in challenging destructive financial systems and standing firmly by our values.”