Sustainability Doesn’t Look Like it Used To

The HSBC Sustainable Future Forum, hosted by finance and sustainability leadership from HSBC, brought together a community of leading experts to share perspectives and trends that drive both business success and societal impact.

Here, we discussed an assortment of fields where companies are taking initiative towards the overall goal of reducing the harmful, negative effects of climate change. Some of these areas include:

• Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG)
• Corporate Social Responsibility
• Finance and Sustainability
• Climate Technology
• The Energy Transition

As the race to achieve net-zero becomes more prevalent across the globe and increasingly valuable to consumers, how businesses position themselves to achieve their sustainability goals contributes more to their perceived value.

With conversations from some of the most influential and eco-friendly companies, HSBC’s sustainable business forum gets to the heart of corporations’ roles in climate change reduction.

Environmental, social, and corporate governance continues to remain a relevant topic for society which is why we prioritized discussion on ESG throughout our sustainability forum.

As consumers become increasingly more cognizant of their purchasing power and the environmental impacts their decisions hold, businesses must become even more responsible for meeting that heightened client expectation with sustainable solutions.

At the same time, how companies partner to achieve mutually, ecologically beneficial outcomes in line with overall business objectives is crucial to form lasting relationships with clients. This corporate practice helps maintain green social governance.

Through conversations with leading Chief Sustainability Officers from Nike, General Electric, and Mastercard on how they approach areas like finance and sustainability, climate technology research & regulation, and transitioning to sustainable energy, HSBC’s ESG panel looks at the present ecosystem and addresses responsible next steps for our planet’s and our collective future.

Hear from our world-renowned guest speakers on their approach to net-zero and their overarching strategies for better environmental and social governance for today and the future.

Meet the leading CSOs who are driving some of today’s most ambitious net zero strategies. We discuss how they created and secured senior-level buy-in for those strategies, where the biggest challenges lie, and how finance and investments are playing a key role in advancing progress.

Panelists include:

• Noel Kinder, Chief Sustainability Officer, NIKE, Inc.
• Roger Martella, Chief Sustainability Officer, The General Electric Company
• Shamina Singh, Founder & President Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, Executive Vice President of Sustainability at Mastercard

Watch the full panel here

One signal of our changing times is the ever-increasing role that the CFO and treasury and finance teams play in driving a company’s net zero and sustainability strategies. Learn how companies have integrated this into their priorities, upskilled themselves on ESG, and how they work effectively across the many stakeholders (including banks) internally and externally to drive for meaningful change.

Panelists include:

• Kimberly DeTrask, EVP and Treasurer of State Street
• Heike Reichelt, Treasury and Head of Investor Relations and Sustainable Finance, World Bank
• Tony Masone, Vice President, Treasurer, Amazon

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Every economic transition has been led by technology and the effort to achieve Net-Zero will be no different. Watch for a discussion of exciting technologies and the sustainable financing that will help bring these technologies to every business, household, and government around the world.

Research Discussion on Trends in the US Market: Camila Sarmiento, Research Analyst, HSBC

Panelists include:

• Hans Kobler, Founder and Managing Partner, Energy Impact Partners
• Mario Fernandez – Head of Catalyst, Breakthrough Energy Ventures
• Michelle Zhu, Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder
• Samuel Graham, Principal, Greenbelt Capital Partners

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Hear from different perspectives across the energy transition from market leading voices across corporates, investors and cutting-edge technologies.

Panelists include:

• Dr. Ricaurte Vásquez, Administrator, Panama Canal
• Andy Bose, Head of Ecosystems and Data Partnerships, Xpansiv
• Joshua Linder, Senior Credit Analyst & Lead Sustainability Research for Fixed Income, APG Asset Management US Inc.
• Paul Mulé, SVP, Finance and Head of Corporate Development, Arcadia Power, Inc.

Followed by:
Keynote Address: Nathaniel Bullard, Senior Contributor, Bloomberg Green

Followed by:
Closing Remarks: Gerry Keefe, HSBC Head of Global Banking, Americas

Watch the full panel here

We’re helping our corporate clients reach their sustainability goals. Find out more about how our dedicated expertise is helping propel them into the future.