HSBC AM eliminates Head of Sustainability position

HSBC Asset Management has confirmed that its Head of Sustainability Erin Leonard is leaving and will not be replaced.

An HSBC spokesperson told CSO Futures that Leonard’s responsibilities “will be shared between respective businesses within HSBC Asset Management and the Responsible Investment team led by Cathrine De Connick Lopez”.

Leonard’s departure is part of a broad governance restructuring at HSBC, under its new CEO George Elhedery.

Last November former Chief Sustainability Officer Celine Herweijer stepped down after her role was demoted from the executive committee. She was replaced by Julian Wentzel.

Leonard took on the new position of Global Head of Sustainability at HSBC AM in 2021 after 10 years as Global Head of Fixed Income Products and Head of EMEA Products at the bank. As head of the sustainability office, she reported directly to CEO Nicolas Moreau and was a member of his Management Committee. 

She was responsible for delivering HSBC AM’s sustainability strategy and supporting the transition to sustainable investing.

HSBC restructuring and what it means for sustainability

HSBC has been under growing scrutiny in recent months due not just to the restructuring and demotion of its sustainability team, but also because of its decision to delay its 2030 net zero target by 20 years.

“We must acknowledge that our influence on the decarbonisation of individual companies and the industries and economies in which our customers operate has limits. There are fundamental prerequisites, outside of our control, which impact our ability to meet our 2030 interim financed emissions targets and ultimately reach our net zero ambition,” the bank explained when announcing this decision.

HSBC is not the only bank backtracking on climate commitments: most Wall Street banks, as well as large Canadian and Australian banks, have left the Net Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA) in the wake of Donald Trump’s presidential election, and California-based Wells Fargo also dropped its 2030 and 2050 climate targets for financed emissions.

Read also: Anti-ESG pushback – a chance for sustainable finance to grow into its own

HSBC shareholders concerned about climate inaction

But sustainably-minded investors are concerned about the systemic risks the bank is exposing itself to by delaying climate action. At its recent AGM, a group of 30 shareholders managing €1.4 trillion in assets called on it to renew its commitment to the net zero transition, and vowed not to remain silent in the face of “deeply concerning signals”.

“As one of the largest banks in the world with exposure across Europe and Asia, HSBC is even more vulnerable than some of its European peers to climate risks, such as the effects of extreme weather, which are already impacting the lives and livelihoods of communities across the world,” they warned in a statement.