HSBC Group has announced a five-year, US$8 million-environmental partnership with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI), whose mission is tropical rainforest ecology and other biodiversity issues, to fund the largest ever field experiment on the long-term effects of climate change and how it will affect the world's forests.

HSBC Group chairman Stephen Green said: "We know the success of business in the long-term depends on a stable environment.

"We believe that by supporting this research we will more fully understand the risks and business opportunities presented by climate change. The Smithsonian Institute is the best-equipped and experienced organisation of this kind to help us understand how our global environment is changing."

The research will create the largest ever field experiment on the role of forests in regulating the quality and quantity of water flow in the Panama Canal.

HSBC Malta CEO, Shaun Wallis said: "The dangers of unstable climatic conditions are in the news like never before. HSBC Malta believes the issue of climate change is one that should also concern our own country, Malta.

"For this reason, the bank is also taking initiatives that generate awareness about climate change and instil a sense of common responsibility.

"One recent example is the screening of the environmental documentary An Inconvenient Truth, which I would highly recommend people to see", he added.