Newswise — Over the next four years, hundreds of employees from the world's largest bank will slog through a forest bordering Chesapeake Bay, learn about how climate change relates to their bottom line, and live in dorms for 12 days at a time.
It is all part of a much larger $100 million program called the HSBC Climate Partnership, which was formally announced in 2007 and runs through 2011. Earthwatch recently launched its part—the largest known employee engagement program on climate change—at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC) in Edgewater, Maryland.
Starting mid-April the first two of 28 12-member groups of HSBC employees started working side-by-side with Earthwatch and its partners to assist ecologists at SERC in carrying out forest research. A third team fields April 28th-May 9th, and the next suite of teams will participate this fall. Their work will contribute to a long-term study on how forests respond to a changing climate.
"But even more important than their days in the field is what they do when they go home," said Alana Jones, Head of Regional Climate Centers. Each HSBC employee works with Earthwatch to create action plans detailing specific changes they will implement to embed climate change and sustainability into the way they "do business" back at the office.
One example is Bill Thomas, director of technological services for HSBC's credit card division, entered the program a self-proclaimed "climate skeptic." Since completing the training and field program, he has changed all the printers in his office to default to double-side printing as a way to save paper. "I get it now," he said.
"We have an expression in banking: one nickel a million times over is a lot of money. Now my new saying is, 'One ream of paper a million times over is a lot of trees.'"
"While many in the world, including some next door in Washington, DC, lock horns in debate about the best way for businesses to move forward in the face of climate change, we are taking real action toward a sustainable future," said Edward Wilson, president and CEO of Earthwatch. "This kind of aggressive engagement program is the only way to make a real difference."
By the time the five-year program wraps up in 2011, 350 HSBC employees will be "climate champions" who have gone through the North America Regional Climate Center at SERC, which is one of five centers Earthwatch has established around the world. The others are in the UK, Brazil, India and China.
Visit http://www.earthwatch.org/HSBC for a backgrounder, images and video clips.
Formed in 2007, the HSBC Climate Partnership brings together HSBC, The Climate Group, Earthwatch Institute, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and WWF to tackle the urgent threat of climate change on people, water, forests and cities. For more information, visit http://www.hsbc.com/committochange.
Earthwatch Institute is the world's largest environmental volunteer nonprofit organization. Its mission is to engage people worldwide in scientific field research and education to promote the understanding and action necessary for a sustainable environment. With approximately 120 projects fielding in more than 55 countries worldwide, Earthwatch focuses its research efforts on climate change, endangered species and resources, marine biology and ocean conservation, and threatened traditional cultures. Earthwatch ranked 11th (of 550) in the "Business Guide to Partnering with NGOs and the United Nations" published last year by The Financial Times, the United Nations Global Compact and Dalberg Global Development Advisors.
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