HSBC 2010 Annual Report Download - page 215

213
Overview Operating & Financial Review Governance Financial Statements Shareholder Information
Operational environmental management
We focus our environmental initiatives primarily on
addressing and responding to issues associated with
climate change, including energy use, water and
waste management. Climate change has the potential
to materially affect our customers and, by extension,
our long-term success, introducing new risks to
business activity. However, it also has the potential
to stimulate a new era of low carbon growth,
innovation and development. In 2010, we continued
to deepen our understanding of the likely effects
that climate change and the responses to it will
have upon our business and those of our customers.
For example, the HSBC Climate Vulnerability
Assessment, which maps risks for the G20 in 2020,
indicates the impact of climate change on food
production, water availability and health. An
understanding of the scale of the issues helps the
Group – and our customers – to focus on how best
to respond.
Community investment
We have a long-standing commitment to the
communities in which we operate. Many of our key
markets are emerging economies. Our operations
bring benefits to our host countries through tax
contributions, and to local people and businesses
through employment, training, purchasing and
investment. Beyond our core business, we aim to
encourage social and economic opportunity through
community investment activities.
Our focus is on education and the environment
because we believe they are essential building blocks
for the development of communities and are
prerequisites for economic growth. Global education
programmes such as Future First, JA More Than
MoneyTM and Eco-Schools focus on helping
disadvantaged children, promoting financial literacy
and environmental education and understanding. Our
flagship environmental programme is the HSBC
Climate Partnership, a US$100m commitment to
working with The Climate Group, Earthwatch,
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and WWF
on tackling climate change.
In 2010, we donated a total of US$108m to
community investment projects (2009: US$100m).
Employee issues
‘Employee engagement’ describes employees’
emotional and intellectual commitment to their
organisation and its success and is critical to the
long-term ability of the Group to deliver the highest
quality of financial services. Our annual Global
People Survey shows that employees value our
commitment to sustainable business practices and
view us as being a leader in this regard. In 2010,
81% of colleagues said they were satisfied with the
actions HSBC is taking to embed sustainability (e.g.
environmental and social issues) into the way we run
our business.
Sustainability governance
The Corporate Sustainability Committee, a
committee of the Board, is responsible for advising
the Board, committees of the Board and executive
management on corporate sustainability policies,
including environmental, social and ethical issues.
The terms of reference of the Corporate
Sustainability Committee, which are reviewed
annually, are available at
www.hsbc.com/boardcommittees.
The members of the Committee during 2010
were N R N Murthy, a non-executive Director
(appointed Chairman on 28 May 2010),
V H C Cheng, an executive Director (appointed
28 May 2010), W K L Fung (retired 28 May 2010),
Sir Mark Moody-Stuart (retired 28 May 2010) and
G V I Davis, Lord May and Dame Mary Marsh,
who are non-director members of the Committee.
The Corporate Sustainability Committee held five
meetings in 2010. The table on page 190 gives
details of Directors’ attendance at these meetings.
Following each meeting, the Committee reports to
the Board on its activities.
We report on progress in developing and
implementing our sustainability strategy annually
in the HSBC Sustainability Report, which is
independently verified and prepared using the Global
Reporting Initiative. PricewaterhouseCoopers
verified the Group’s commitment to carbon
neutrality and adherence to the Equator Principles.
The HSBC Sustainability Report 2010 will be issued
on 27 May 2011 and will be available at
www.hsbc.com/sustainability.
We have a Corporate Sustainability department
within the Group Management Office and in each
of our major regions and countries of operation.
At an operational level, implementation of our
sustainability policies is managed primarily by
Group Corporate Sustainability, Group Human
Resources, Group Risk and Group Compliance.
Sustainability risk
Our approach to managing sustainability risk is
detailed on page 173.