A coalition of Methodist churches and faith organisations in Britain, Ireland and Colombia have joined forces to submit a complaint concerning HSBC’s financing relationship with a mining giant operating in the Colombian town of La Guajira.
The complaint centres on claims of environmental degradation, displacement of communities, lack of access to water and health concerns allegedly impacting local people at La Guajira.
Nearby is a mining operation run by international giant Glencore. The complaint demands that British authorities examine whether HSBC’s financing relationship with Glencore complies with OECD guidelines concerning responsible business conduct and due diligence.
The World Council of Churches has also got involved, with the WCC General Secretary, Rev Jerry Pillay, saying, “Faith communities have a moral responsibility to advocate for climate justice, human dignity, and responsible stewardship of creation.
"This initiative reflects growing concern among churches and communities worldwide regarding the role financial systems play in shaping the future of people and planet.”
Pillay said the WCC’s intervention was based on a desire for those allegedly impacted by Glencore’s operations to have their voices heard and to hold financial institutions to the climate and human rights values that they profess.
A spokesperson for the Methodist Church in Great Britain said it had “long believed that investment is not morally neutral”.
“How capital is allocated, and the consequences that flow from it, are matters of justice, stewardship and human dignity," it said.
"Our decision to support this OECD complaint reflects a clear concern that the pace of change within parts of the global banking sector falls short of the scale and urgency of the human suffering linked to climate breakdown and associated human rights harms. For us, this is not an abstract debate about policy frameworks or distant financial risk. These are questions connected to real communities, real livelihoods and real lives.”
HSBC said that while it could not comment on an individual client relationship, it was committed to achieving climate-related goals.
A spokesperson for the bank said, “We have committed to phase out financing of thermal coal-fired power and thermal coal mining by 2030 in EU and OECD markets, and by 2040 in other markets. These commitments support our ambition to align the financed emissions in our portfolio to net zero by 2050. From 2020 through 2024, we had seen a 94% reduction in our financed emissions related to thermal coal mining. We remain aligned with the goals of the Paris Agreement.”
