Coal news and updates

Shareholders of HSBC have today passed a proposed management resolution that commits the bank to phase-out financing for the coal industry by 2040 worldwide, following successful campaigning from investors.

 

HSBC shareholders today met to vote on the climate resolution, which if passed would commit the company to phase out finance for the coal industry by 2030 in the OECD and by 2040 worldwide.

 

Earlier this year, investors with a combined $2.4trn in assets under management filed a resolution at HSBC, calling on the bank to publish a strategy that outlines efforts to reduce exposure to fossil fuel assets.

 

The ShareAction coalition has since encouraged HSBC’s board to table a resolution that will phase-out this financing in the European Union and OECD by 2030 and globally by 2040. The resolution required more than 75% of the votes to pass. Preliminary results showed the resolution passing with over 99% of the vote.

 

ShareAction’s senior campaign manager Jeanne Martin said: “We’re delighted that our campaign has resulted in a binding commitment by HSBC to phase out coal, but the devil is in the detail and the next six months are crucial to ensure that this commitment is translated into robust sector policies.”

 

Part of HSBC’s resolution commits it to “publish by the end of 2021 a policy that will… provide further detail on the phase out plan, its scope and interim targets” and to “engage with ShareAction, representatives of the group of co-filing institutions and other stakeholders in the development of this policy”.

 

Source : https://www.edie.net/news