UK advertising watchdog bans HSBC ‘green’ ads | Commercial

In its decision, the UK firm banned several misleading ads and said any future campaign by the bank must advertise HSBC’s contribution. Climate crisis. The ruling comes after the ASA received dozens of complaints questioning the bank’s green credentials, including investing $1 trillion in tree-planting initiatives and helping clients meet their climate goals, the report said. Guardian. The body concluded that the announcements failed to recognize HSBC’s relationship with carbon-intensive industries.

“Despite the initiatives highlighted in the announcements… HSBC continued to fund investments in companies and industries that emit significant amounts of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Greenhouse effect. We don’t think consumers will know that’s the case. “We concluded that the advertisements omitted relevant information and were therefore misleading,” the ASA said, determining that the bank must ensure that future environmental claims are “adequately qualified and do not omit material information about their contribution to carbon dioxide emissions”.

The ASA also noted that HSBC’s latest annual report found that customers and projects the bank provided loans and services to were linked to emitting 65.3 million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year, but that figure only represented customers. If other industries like construction, transport and coal mining are included in the document, this would be much higher.

The agency’s decision was announced months after HSBC was forced to suspend senior banker Stuart Kirk for calling climate crisis warnings “baseless” and “severe”.

HSBC said: “The financial sector has a responsibility to communicate its role in the low carbon transition to raise public awareness and engage customers, so we will consider how best to do this as we deliver our ambitious net zero commitments.”