HSBC ( NYSE: HSBC ) said Wednesday it will halt funding of new oil and gas fields and will seek more information from its energy clients about their plans to reduce carbon emissions, according to media reports .
The bank said it will continue to provide financing to energy companies at the corporate level to help them revamp their businesses and to develop cleaner energy sources. It's one of the biggest banks to say it won't support oil and gas projects that received final approval after 2021.
The move is part of a wider update to its sector policy, Reuters reported. The policy, which covers a wide range of energy sources from biomass and hydrogen to nuclear and thermal coal, is aimed at making progress across regions with different energy systems, HSBC's chief sustainability officer, Celine Herweijer, told Reuters.
She also pointed out that HSBC is not shutting down financing of new oil and gas projects immediately. "It's not no new fossil fuel investment as of tomorrow," Herweijer said. "The existing fossil fuel energy system needs to exist hand-in-hand with the growing clean energy system."
Also on Wednesday, U.K. bank Barclays ( NYSE: BCS ) said it is increasing it increased its target for sustainable and transition financing to $1T by the end of 2030. In addition, it's increasing its own equity capital investment into climate tech startups to £500M by 2027 from £175M by 2025.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Energy announced a scientific breakthrough in achieving fusion energy.
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HSBC to stop funding new oil and gas fields in sector policy update