HSBC to send staff to become eco-warriers
Date: 25-Feb-02
Country: UK
The global banking group is giving $50 million over five years to the partnership, which comprises global environment network WWF, Earthwatch and Botanic Gardens Conservation International.
HSBC has already run a pilot scheme where staff members have gone off to work on eco-projects around the world. One staff member, for example, went to help with a study of mountain lions in the United States and another worked on a survey of frogs in Australian rain forests.
HSBC Chairman John Bond said the bank had been involved in environmental projects since the mid-1980s and this latest scheme showed that HSBC was stepping up a gear.
He said he was aware of scepticism about so-called corporate social responsibility, and acknowledged that HSBC was far from perfect as an environmentalist.
Bond said the impetus for this project came from within the bank, where staff felt more needed to be done in terms of the environment.
After the five years are up, the chairman said, the bank would look at what had been achieved. "I would be surprised if we don't find a way to sustain these sort of programmes," he said.
