Protecting Bermuda

In 2012 we launched the Reduce Programme - our Operational Sustainability Strategy to reduce our annual carbon emissions by about 40 per cent per employee by 2020.

This includes both larger projects and adopting smarter ways of everyday working, such as reducing waste creation and cutting down on unnecessary use of water, paper and energy. 

We've made strong progress since launch, achieving many of our global targets 3 years early.

We know we can and should continue to do more, and our ambitions go much further. Through our new climate strategy, we will ensure that our operations are net carbon zero by no later than 2030. 

Our focus is to address emissions attributed to the energy we consume, the business travel our employees undertake, and the products and services our suppliers provide us. Whilst our focus is to become net zero in our operations, we will continue to drive responsible consumption of resources across all aspects of the business.

The global HSBC Water Programme was a five year, US$100m partnership with Earthwatch, WaterAid and the World Wildlife Fund; three non-Governmental global organisations that rank amongst the world's most respected advocates for environmental and sustainable development. 

These partnerships provide the necessary scale to deliver the powerful combination of water provision, protection and education, benefiting communities in need, enabling people to prosper, and driving economic development and growth.

In 2015, it was announced that Bermuda was included as a participant in this global initiative.

One of the local projects was focused on the remediation of the Cloverdale and Evan's Bay brackish ponds. These ponds act as a critical habitat for a diversity of wildlife including endemic and endangered species and are also temporary habitats for many seasonal migrating birds.

Between 2014 - 2018, HSBC partnered with BIOS in support of the MARINE Program and the ROV Challenge, which teaches young people about the world's oceans, and the importance of preserving them. 

During the challenge, students set the robotic vehicles they had built in collaboration with instructors on a variety of missions. In 2017, one of the themes of the challenge focused on navigation through a reproduction of the island's famed Harrington Sound to collect sea urchins and sea grasses.

After five years of sponsoring the BIOS Explorer programme, which welcomed thousands of students to learn about local environmental issues, HSBC created interactive materials and visually integrated program components.

The new materials gave hundreds of P4 and P5 students the opportunity to visit BIOS and learn about “The Secret Life of Fish” - everything from fish anatomy and physiology to the various technologies that scientists use to study and understand their behavior and ecology.

On Saturday 8 December 2012, HSBC invited the community, along with HSBC staff and their families, to help with ongoing efforts to restore Cooper's Island to its natural state. Volunteers helped to support endemic plants and remove invasive species.

In 2009 HSBC Bermuda partnered with the Ministry of Environment and Sports, Department of Conservation Services and the Department of Parks and adopted one acre of land at Cooper's Island, providing funding and volunteer resources to remove existing unwanted structures and invasive plant species. 

For the next three years, HSBC staff worked on various restoration projects and in June 2011 we were able to open the restored area to the general public.