HSBC unveils donation for climate study

London-based HSBC, Europe’s biggest bank, has created a $100 million partnership to study the impacts of climate change. Over the next five years, HSBC distribute the sum to The Climate Group, Earthwatch Institute, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and the World Wildlife Fund. Through the donation program, dubbed the HSBC Climate Partnership, the four groups will help major cities across the globe, such as New York and Shanghai, respond to climate change. The funds will also monitor the world’s forests and protect major rivers. This donation is the largest ever made by a British company, HSBC said. The HSBC Climate Partnership is a follow-up to its previous $50 million program “Investing in Nature,” a five-year partnership that ended last year. The program, which included Botanical Gardens Conservation International, Earthwatch and WWF, helped save 12,000 plant species from extinction, sent 2,000 HSBC employees on conservation research projects and trained 200 scientists.