Sue Jex

In 2004 I took time out to participate in HSBC’s Investing in Nature programme, spending time in Belize with Earthwatch scientists researching the effects of increased cruise ship traffic on manatees. I followed this up by becoming a “sustainability leader” in 2010 – one of a team of HSBC leaders who commit to projects to improve sustainability, as well as educating other colleagues in these issues. A key part of this is the Climate Champion programme.Climate Champions are trained under the aegis of the HSBC Climate Partnership, the outcome of a 10-year collaboration between environmental charity Earthwatch and HSBC to engage the bank’s employees in sustainability issues and inspire them to act. Having begun the partnership with the Investing in Nature programme from 2002 to 2007, the Climate Champion programme builds on the lessons learnt and transforms what was a community investment and employee engagement programme into an innovative professional development programme with far-reaching business benefits. HSBC employees who volunteer as climate champions are trained through an experiential learning programme co-designed by Earthwatch and HSBC, and delivered by Earthwatch at one of five regional climate centres worldwide. The programme focuses on embedding HSBC’s approach to sustainability, by tackling what is arguably the greatest environmental challenge we face today – climate change. Climate champions connect sustainability and climate change issues to their day jobs through fieldwork and facilitated learning sessions, which help them to identify related business projects. They then implement the projects when they return to work.