Thread by @SalkeldIsabella

🚨@ShareAction are in Birmingham for @HSBC_UK’s AGM today!

Stay tuned for live #HSBCAGM updates below 👇

Outside, @xrbham are making themselves heard loud and clear on the samba drums 🥁

And highlighting @HSBC_UK #greenwashing with their greenwash bath 🧼🛁 twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

Spotted: a furry friend 🐾

Is he here to sniff out the bank’s stinking oil & gas financing???

🧼 🧽 now @xrbham scrubbers are here to clean up the greenwash!!

They might be here a while…. twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

And we’re off!! 🚀

Nothing quite like a greenwashing video to start… @HSBC can’t claim to be transitioning to #netzero without robust oil & gas phase out policies in place 👀

📢 An activist interrupts the Chairman’s opening speech to say @HSBC’s fossil fuel financing is a “disgrace”, calling the Chairman the “Chief Arson Officer” 🔥

Another activist now highlights @HSBC’s financing of the German energy company RWE, which she claims contributed to the destruction of a village to make way for a coal mine expansion

“@HSBC liar liar pants on fire” 🩲🔥

Activist calls on people to get their money out of HSBC for the planet’s sake

Activist asks “HOW DARE YOU @HSBC?”

“You are stealing my children’s futures”

“You have blood on your hands”🩸

“This is ecocide”

“Shame on you HSBC”

Chairman says “shareholders are here to ask important questions in a moment”

People in the audience shout back “we are shareholders!!”

Security are now moving in…

🧼🧽🧴looks like the scrubbers from @xrbham still haven’t finished their shift - there’s more #greenwashing to clean up!

The Chairman asks security to escort them out. twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

⏰ We’re now 50 minutes in and @xrbham disruptions continue 🗣️

Audible groans from shareholders and the CEO now has zero tolerance for protest 🚫

The CEO has only just turned to #netzero (about time!)

“We continue to set 2030 targets & will include off balance sheet emissions as soon as an industry standard is set”

More @xrbham protestors disrupt calling out greenwash

@ShareAction’s first question is read out in a robot voice 🤖

CEO responded that @HSBC seeks to cover all sector targets first, but then might consider an overarching target 📊📉

Next up, a shareholder accuses Noel Quinn of selling off stock just before HSBC acquired the failing Silicon Valley Bank 💰

Chairman responded that there was nothing underhand and that he won’t discuss the topic again

Now @feedbackorg asks @HSBC how it can be net zero-aligned when it invests in industrial farming company JBS which has an emissions footprint larger than the whole of Spain’s 🇪🇸

They also highlight the company’s high rates of #deforestation and human rights abuses

CEO claims he’s not aware of the industrial farming company JBS

@feedbackorg respond “you’re not aware of JBS? Seriously?”

Now a delegate from the Philippines, Ange, from @CEEDphilippines asks how @HSBC can justify expanding LNG in the the Verde Island Passage, termed the Amazon of the Ocean 🇵🇭

@urgewald now echoes Ange’s concerns, asking when @HSBC will expand its oil & gas restriction policy to include the COMPANIES expanding oil & gas

Chairman responds that @Shell and @bp_plc etc are ‘part of the transition’ 🙄

Nicole: “they’re not transitioning!”

@ShareAction’s @kellyshields145 now asks @HSBC to give clarity on whether it supports 100% weighting for emissions financed via capital markets

As much as 60% of @HSBC’s financing to top oil & gas expanders is currently unaccounted for❗️

The Board fails to answer her questions, saying they are waiting for the official standard to be set until they provide further comment

@kellyshields145 has now gone back to the mic to register a follow up question… watch this space 👀

A shareholder now asks whether it’s lawful that security staff are filming us with their body cams 📸

Chairman responds they’re not filming on @HSBC’s orders and that he’ll double check with the bank’s lawyers

She asks “What’s the use of our shares if the world collapses?”

“It’s like saying investing in a brewery is going to help us all become teetotal”

“Why are you, as clever people, still investing in fossil fuels and lying to investors?”

Shareholder now asks those in the room not to “exert political pressure” on the board regarding #netzero 👎

Sarah from @justmoneyorg raises @HSBC’s failure to take leadership on its financing of the plastic crisis, asking how they plan to reduce this

Chairman responds that they would be happy to meet with the org to discuss this further

Next up, I ask on behalf of @ShareAction and affected indigenous communities from Texas and Mexico what action @HSBC has taken on the expansion of fracking and on its due diligence of harmful projects

They respond that they’ll meet with us again to discuss this 💪🏼

@natasha_ion from @BankTrack asked a question on HSBC’s fracking commitments, particularly its financing of companies in Argentina’s Vaca Muerta region, which particularly impacts the Indigenous Mapuche community.

BankTrack called on the bank to strengthen its fracking policy.

@kellyshields145’s follow up question on capital markets facilitated oil and gas expansion was rejected 🙅‍♀️

At @ShareAction we’ll continue to hold @HSBC and other EU banks to account for ALL of their oil and gas financing, no matter the source

And that’s a wrap! Congrats all for the brilliant questions 👏👏👏