A high-ranking HSBC executive has resigned, claiming that his position had become “unsustainable” as a result of backlash from a speech he gave last spring downplaying the financial risks of climate change.
Stuart Kirk, who was serving as HSBC Asset Management Global Head of Responsible Investment, announced his resignation in a LinkedIn post on July 7. In the post, Kirk criticized “the nonsense, hypocrisy, sloppy logic, and group-think inside the mainstream bubble of sustainable finance,” claiming the company stifled viewpoint diversity and stuck to “bonkers” ideas about sustainable investment.
Kirk went on leave from HSBC in May following an address to the FT Moral Money Summit Europe in London. In his speech, the HSBC executive downplayed the risks of climate change for investors, stating that the impacts of manmade climate change were greatly exaggerated and decades from fruition….