HSBC suspends head of responsible investing who called climate warnings ‘shrill’
Bank investigating Stuart Kirk’s conference speech deriding flooding risks and climate warnings from UN and Bank of England
Kalyeena Makortoff Banking correspondent
Sun 22 May 2022 18.10 EDT
HSBC has suspended a senior banker after he referred to climate crisis warnings as “unsubstantiated” and “shrill” during a conference speech that has since been denounced by the lender’s chief executive.
Stuart Kirk, who has been HSBC’s head of responsible investing since last July, will remain suspended until the bank completes an internal investigation into the matter.
HSBC came under pressure to fire Kirk after he gave a presentation in London entitled “why investors need not worry about climate risk”, in which he made light of major flooding risks, and complained about having to spend time “looking at something that’s going to happen in 20 or 30 years”
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/may/22/hsbc-suspends-head-of-responsible-investing-who-called-climate-warnings-shrill
