HSBC buys carbon credits in New Zealand [update]
Just a short note: HSBC buys carbon credits in New Zealand
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (UPI) — British financial giant HSBC Group PLC has bought so-called carbon credits on the international market to cut its own emissions to zero.
I’m not sure what’s ’so-called’ about them, or indeed what sort of carbon credits they bought. But it’s a good sign that even banks are taking this all seriously.
from another article on Stuff.co.nz, with more details:
One of the four carbon offset suppliers selected by HSBC was Te Apiti, Meridian energy’s first wind farm site north of the Manawatu Gorge.
The project, 55 turbines on 1150ha of farmland, has a capacity of 1.65 megawatts for each turbine – enough electricity for 45,000 average-size homes.
Te Apiti has been running at 45 per cent of maximum capacity since opening, compared with an international average of only 30 per cent, the bank said on its website.
The bank also chose three other projects generating “carbon credits” in India, Australia, and Germany.
Sir John Bond, HSBC Group chairman, UK, said the bank was constantly looking at ways to increase energy efficiency and reduce its output of environmentally damaging waste. He said that companies with the foresight to get involved in the new carbon trading schemes would find themselves at a competitive advantage as it became standard practice.
“Our bank has pledged to cut its net emissions to zero and will embark on a carbon neutral ‘dry run’ for the last quarter of 2005, to ensure it is fully prepared ahead of the previously announced January 2006 deadline,” he said in a statement.
In September 2003, Meridian negotiated to sell carbon credits to the Dutch Government’s Erupt scheme, which at that time was paying between $NZ7 and $NZ20 per tonne of carbon dioxide.
- DS
