2006 Corporate Responsibility Report Hsbc Holdings Plc Essay

HSBC Holdings plcCorporate
Responsibility Report
HSBC Holdings plc
Cover photograph
Santiago’s low-emission buses
In 2006, HSBC financed a deal to provide 1,779 buses with low carbon emissions to
serve 4.5 million passengers in Santiago, Chile. These high capacity, environmentally
friendly buses of the Transantiago Bus Rapid Transit Project – part of the largest
public regeneration programme in Latin America – are now serving some of the
poorest areas of the city. The buses could cut air pollution in Santiago by as much as
77 per cent.
The parts were manufactured by Volvo in Sweden and assembled in Curitiba, Brazil.
The vehicles were then driven 3,200 kilometres in convoy through Brazil and
Argentina and, as shown here, across the Andes to Santiago.
Photography: Ito Cornelsen
1 2006 in Review
2 Introduction by the Group Chairman
4 Group Overview: Geography
6 Group Overview: Customers
10 Our Approach to Corporate Responsibility
14 Our Priorities
28 About HSBC
32 Key Facts
34 Index
36 DNV Assurance Statements
40 Contacts
Contents
HSBC Holdings plc Corporate Responsibility Report 2006 1
2006 in Review
‘Sustainable bank of the year’
HSBC was named overall winner in the first Financial Times
Sustainable Banking Awards, in recognition of our leadership
in merging social, environmental and business objectives.
Energy Sector Policy and Carbon
Finance Strategy
We issued our fourth sector guideline, the Energy Sector
Policy, which provides guidance for our employees on the
environmental and social standards recognised as good
practice within the energy industry. We also launched our
Carbon Finance Strategy, which advises clients on the
implications of climate change, and helps them to
understand the challenges and opportunities of creating a
lower carbon economy.
Future First
The HSBC Global Education Trust launched ‘Future First’,
a five-year, US$10 million programme to help street
children, children in care and orphans around...