Two HSBC posters have been banned by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) over greenwashing.

The ads, which were seen at bus stops in Bristol and London in October last year, included a poster which featured the text: "Climate change doesn’t do borders. Neither do rising sea levels. That’s why HSBC is aiming to provide up to $1 trillion in financing and investment globally to help our clients transition to net zero”.

The second poster was of an image of tree growth rings with text that said "Climate changes doesn’t do borders. So in the UK, we’re helping to plant 2 million trees which will lock in 1.25 million tonnes of carbon over their lifetime".

The regulator received 45 complaints, including from Adfree Cities, which said that the advertisements were misleading because they “omitted significant information about HSBC’s contribution to carbon dioxide and greenhouse gas emissions”.

HSBC told the UK watchdog that it had been making the claim in the first ad since 2020 and aimed to meet the ambition to provide financing and investment globally to help some of its clients transition to net zero by 2030.

HSBC said that the financing of greenhouse gas-emitting industries was required during the transition to net zero, and so its continued financing of those industries was "not in conflict with the aims of a transition to net zero".

According to advertising rules, the basis of environmental claims must be clear and that "unqualified claims could mislead if they omit significant information".

The ASA said that HSBC was continuing to significantly finance investments in businesses and industries that emitted notable levels of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses and that consumers would not know that this was the case.

FStech has approached HSBC for comment.

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