HSBC 2009 Annual Report Download - page 329

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can continue to reward shareholders and employees,
build long-lasting relationships with customers and
suppliers, pay taxes and duties in those countries
where it operates, and invest in communities for
future growth.
HSBC’s continuing financial success depends,
in part, on its ability to identify and address certain
non-financial considerations which are material to
the business, and to mitigate the risks and maximise
the opportunities arising from them. These generally
fall into one or more of the following four broad
areas:
• Business sustainability
• Environmental issues
• Community investment
• Employee engagement
Business sustainability
HSBC aims to build long-term customer
relationships around the world through the provision
of a consistent and high-quality service and customer
experience. The Group uses the benefits of its scale,
financial strength, geographical reach and strong
brand value to achieve this.
HSBC aims to take advantage of the
opportunities and manage the risks presented by
emerging global trends by leading the development
of sustainable business models to address them. The
Group understands that the world is changing, with
increased longevity, a widening gap in the relative
growth rates of emerging and mature economies and
the need to move to a lower-carbon economy in
order to mitigate some of the effects of climate
change being significant examples. Over the long
term, HSBC anticipates playing a leading role in
shaping the market response to these challenges and
is among those financial institutions identifying how
business can respond in ways that bring both
environmental and social benefits, as well as
providing viable economic returns.
Environmental issues
HSBC focuses its environmental initiatives primarily
on addressing and responding to issues associated
with climate change, including energy, water
management and biodiversity. Climate change has
the potential to materially affect HSBC’s customers
and, by extension, the Group’s 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
2009, HSBC continued to deepen its understanding
of the likely effects that climate change and the
responses to it will have upon its business and those
of its customers. The Group further developed its
ability to research the commercial implications of
climate change mitigation initiatives, improved the
make up and distribution of its investable index
offering, ‘The Global Climate Change Benchmark
Index’ and benefited from the continuing counsel of
Lord Stern as advisor to the Group Chairman on
economic development and climate change.
Community investment
HSBC has a long-standing commitment to the
communities in which it operates. Many of the
Group’s key markets are emerging economies.
HSBC’s operations bring benefits to its host
countries through tax contributions, and to local
people and businesses through employment, training,
purchasing and investment. Beyond the impact of its
core business, the Group aims to encourage social
and economic opportunity through its community
investment activity.
HSBC focuses this activity on education and the
environment because it believes 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. The
Group’s flagship environmental programme is the
HSBC Climate Partnership, a US$100 million
commitment to working with The Climate Group,
Earthwatch, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
and WWF on tackling climate change.
In 2009, HSBC donated a total of
US$100 million to community investment projects
(2008: US$102 million, or US$99 million at constant
exchange rates).
Employee engagement
‘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. HSBC’s annual Global
People Survey shows that employees value the
Group’s commitment to sustainable business
practices and view the Group as being a leader in
this regard. HSBC has made sustainability a key
element of the employee induction and senior
management training programmes, and has fully
integrated sustainability risk issues into the Group’s
risk management processes covering corporate
clients.