Bank staff join global climate change initiative

Fifteen members of HSBC Malta's staff will go on a two-week field trip in Oxford to train in good environmental practices as part of HSBC's global Climate Partnership programme.

The announcement was made at an activity at Salini Park on Monday to mark World Environment Day, celebrated on June 5.

Salini Park is one of the national afforestation projects which HSBC has been supporting since the launch of the 34U project by the government three years ago.

The HSBC Climate Partnership is a five-year, $100 million programme on climate change that brings together world organisations HSBC, The Climate Group, the Earthwatch Institute, the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and WWF. It aims to inspire action by individuals, businesses and governments worldwide.

Sally Robson HSBC's chief operating officer and chairman of HSBC's Cares for the Environment Fund, said the bank's global network was active "to actually be part of a solution by providing and financing training for its staff and the community; working on tangible ways to be a carbon neutral operation and funding projects to protect and improve the environment".

The Minister for Resources and Rural Affairs, George Pullicino said that at both a global and national level, HSBC has set an excellent example for the private sector in being part of the solution.

Attending the activity were five Young Reporters For The Environment. The five fourth-formers, led by Elaine Gatt, from St Michael Foundation were short-listed for their essay on sand dunes by Nature Trust, representatives in Malta of the International Foundation for Environmental Education.