HSBC
HSBC is one of the world's leading financial services companies, employing around 300,000 people globally. HSBC is Earthwatch’s largest corporate partner, and has worked with Earthwatch for more than a decade.
Earthwatch, WaterAid and WWF are partners in HSBC’s current environmental initiative, the HSBC Water Program. The Program will deliver a powerful combination of water provision, protection, information and education; resulting in the most ground-breaking water program committed to by a financial organization. The Program will benefit communities in need and enable economies to prosper, driving development and socio-economic growth.
Earthwatch is setting up research projects in over 20 cities worldwide, working with local conservation partners to address urban water management issues. Thousands of HSBC employees, and their wider local communities, will take part in a global citizen science project, collecting robust scientific data using innovative technology. This information will support, inform and transform policymakers’ water resource management plans.
Earthwatch’s first formal partnership with HSBC was Investing in Nature, a five year partnership launched in 2002, also featuring WWF and Botanic Gardens Conservation International. As part of this program, HSBC sent 2,000 of its employees on Earthwatch field research projects around the world and helped Earthwatch train 230 scientists from the developing world on Earthwatch projects. HSBC participants undertook an environmental project in their workplace or local community, supported by a grant from HSBC.
Building on the success of the Investing in Nature partnership, in 2007 HSBC launched the HSBC Climate Partnership. Partnering with The Climate Group, Earthwatch, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) and WWF, the HSBC Climate Partnership was a $100 million, five-year program to reduce the impact of climate change and accelerate the adoption of low-carbon policies. Earthwatch helped influence the way HSBC does business by engaging HSBC employees in understanding more about the risks and opportunities associated with climate change and using that knowledge to reduce their own impacts at home and at work and those of HSBC.