Latest news with #AndrewHarper
The Independent
01-05-2025
- Business
- The Independent
HSBC accused of ‘bulldozing through' key climate policy with $1bn Glencore deal
HSBC has been accused of 'bulldozing' through one of its key climate pledges by helping raise $1 billion (£750bn) for the mining giant Glencore. Following pressure from climate-conscious investors, HSBC promised in December 2021 to stop funding companies that were increasing coal production. Yet new analysis from the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and The Independent has found that the bank helped raise $1bn for Glencore in May 2023. Glencore had increased coal production in the two previous years. Epworth Investment Management, which is both a customer of HSBC and investor in its shares and bonds hit out at HSBC. Its deputy chief executive Andrew Harper said: 'If these reports are accurate, then HSBC hasn't just bent its coal policy – it has bulldozed through it.' He said the deal with Glencore 'goes against both the spirit and the letter of HSBC's policy'. 'This isn't a grey area. It's a clear line being crossed,' he added. 'This is a really shocking finding and it just goes to demonstrate how there is such a lack of accountability even within HSBC itself,' said Zahra Hdidou, senior climate and resilience advisor at ActionAid, a non-profit organisation that banks with HSBC. 'Despite its own 'green' rhetoric and what they would like the public to see and think about their ethics, HSBC is clearly falling short, neglecting its responsibility to the planet while keeping its customers in the dark about the true impact of its financing.' The $1bn funding for Glencore was found via new analysis of data on climate-focused bank switching platform which compares banks' lending with their public commitments around funding coal companies. Specifically, HSBC helped Glencore raise two $500 million corporate bonds that mature in 2028 and 2033. Glencore's coal extraction increased year-on-year between 2021 and 2023. The company extracted 94 million tonnes of coal in 2021, rising to 101 million in 2022, and 106 million in 2023, according to Glencore annual reports. As a point of comparison, the EU's 27 countries collectively consumed 128 million tonnes of hard coal in 2023. Anders Schelde, chief investment officer at AkademikerPension, a Danish pension fund that invests in HSBC and is part of a group of investors that has pushed the bank to strengthen its climate commitments. , said he took the alleged breaches in the bank's coal policy 'very seriously'. 'We do not believe there is room for backtracking as it would put HSBC's credibility on the line,' he said. Responding to these findings, HSBC said: 'We follow a clear set of sustainability risk policies which support our ambition to align the financed emissions in our portfolio to net zero by 2050. We do not comment on client relationships.' HSBC has rolled back some climate pledges in recent months. It has delayed its net zero targets by 20 years, introduced exceptions to its coal policy and dropped the chief sustainability officer role from its executive board. One of the mines that Glencore owns is the vast Cerrejón open-pit coal mine in Colombia, which is almost six times the size of Manchester. Glencore – which bought out the mine's previous co-owners in 2022 – intends to extract coal from the site until at least 2034. In 2020, a UN special rapporteur said that people living nearby suffered from headaches, breathing difficulties, burning eyes and blurred vision due to the machinery used to extract coal from the mine round the clock, seven days a week. Meanwhile, Grismaldo, an indigenous Wayúu man in his 20s, said that they used to use water from the Ranchería river – which passes through the mine site – for washing and bathing. 'Everyone here used to benefit. It changed a lot because of the mine. Some animals that drank from these waters became ill or died.' Glencore said in response: 'We aim to avoid harm to people from our activities, respect human rights, [and] contribute to the social and economic development of people and society more widely,' adding that it follows best business practices in line with international standards. The company said its activities do not negatively affect the Ranchería river's water quality or volumes, and that the flow rate increases as it passes through the mine. HSBC is due to hold its Annual General Meeting on Friday, with recent reports suggesting that the bank may move the meeting online in the future to avoid disruptions from climate protestors.
Yahoo
08-03-2025
- Yahoo
Traveller site linked to PC's death has £4.2m revamp
A £4.2m renovation of a traveller site where PC Andrew Harper's killers were arrested after his death is almost finished. PC Harper died after being dragged along the road by three teenage quad bike thieves in 2019. Two of the arrests were made at the Four Houses Corner site in Ufton Nervet, Berkshire, which was shut in 2020 due to its dilapidated state. The upgrade was approved despite more than 50 objections, including one from Thames Valley Police, and a plea from PC Harper's mother. The renovation of the site was given the go-ahead at a West Berkshire Council meeting last March, with final approval being granted by the government shortly afterwards. During the meeting, Graham Bridgman from Mortimer Parish Council said the site was a "hotbed of criminality" due to the circumstances of PC Harper's death. He said: "There is a history of criminality at this site and the fear of that continuing in the future." Councillor Nick Carter argued no other ethnic group would be described as "inherently criminal". Debbie Adlam, PC Harper's mother, said she was "concerned" about police officers who might have to attend the site in future, and asked the planning committee: "If Andrew was your son, would you approve this?" Council officers and councillors said they recognised the tragic circumstances of PC Harper's death but said they were unable to find alternative sites for traveller communities. Henry Long, from Mortimer, was arrested at the site and jailed for 16 years after a trial in 2020. His accomplices Albert Bowers and Jessie Cole were each sentenced to 13 years. PC Harper died after he was dragged along country lanes in Berkshire as he and a colleague responded to reports of a quad bike theft. An appeal to increase his killers' sentences was rejected but Harper's Law was passed in April 2022 after a campaign by his wife Lissie Harper, which requires life imprisonment for anyone who causes the death of emergency workers. The upgraded site contains 17 pitches for travelling communities, with caravans arranged in a circle, and individual day room accommodation for each pitch, providing a kitchen, toilet and bathroom. It is unclear when the site will open. You can follow BBC Berkshire on Facebook, and X. Revamp agreed at traveller site linked to PC's death The PC's killing that sparked an outpouring of love PC Andrew Harper's teenage killers jailed West Berkshire Council Local Democracy Reporting Service
