Home > Our Work > Working with Companies > The HSBC Climate Partnership

The HSBC Climate Partnership

The HSBC Climate Partnership is a five-year programme between HSBC, Earthwatch, the Climate Group, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and WWF to inspire action by individuals, businesses and governments on climate change.

Since 2007, Earthwatch has been working with HSBC on the largest employee engagement and forest-based research programme under the HSBC Climate Partnership. Earthwatch is on track to engage and motivate one third (100,000) of HSBC's global workforce to take action on climate change.

Forest Research

Billions of people rely on forests for food, shelter, fuel, clean air, fresh water and recreation. Forests also play a vital role in climate change because they influence weather patterns, and trees capture and store carbon. However, climate change will affect the growth of trees and this process is poorly understood by scientists.
We are undertaking a five-year global programme of forest research to determine how temperate and tropical forests are being affected by changes in climate and other human-related activities such as logging.
Regional Climate Centres have been set up in China, India, Latin America, North America and Europe, where our scientists, supported by local community members and HSBC employees, will carry out field work to establish the health of the forests.
Results from this programme will enable forest managers, conservationists, and communities worldwide to understand how forests are responding to climate change and how they can better manage them.
Earthwatch is supporting the International Year of Forests.

Involving People

Earthwatch is working with HSBC to help their employees learn more about climate change, what it means to the business and what they can do to combat it.
This ambitious programme aims to motivate and engage 100,000 HSBC staff to take action on climate change. Of these 2,200 employees will successfully complete the Climate Champion Programme, where HSBC employees spend two weeks at a Regional Climate Centre working with scientists to monitor the health of the forests. These HSBC employees also take part in discussions and action and planning sessions to further their understanding of climate change. Upon their return to work, they will develop projects that further HSBC's commitment to sustainability.
A variety of resources and opportunities have been developed to help build employee understanding, including an online programme on climate change with activities and social networking. So far 63,000 employees have taken part in this online learning. 38,500 employees have also volunteered on environmental projects in their community to gain practical experience of tackling climate change locally.
Read a Q&A with Earthwatch's Head of Learning, Rachel Phillips, to learn more about how Earthwatch is engaging HSBC's workforce.

Useful Resources:

The 2010 HSBC Climate Partnership review summarises the achievements of each of the partners. Download the review, published by HSBC in February 2011.