Speakers

Francis Sullivan
Adviser on the Environment
Group Corporate Sustainability
HSBC Holdings plc

Francis joined HSBC Holdings plc following a 20-year career in sustainable development at WWF, the conservation organisation. He was seconded to HSBC Holdings plc for three years from 2004 as Adviser on the Environment, before becoming a permanent employee at HSBC in 2007.

Francis provides practical advice and technical expertise across the range of HSBC’s direct and indirect environmental impacts. His current role is within the Group Corporate Sustainability team, which covers four main areas: building sustainability into the risk management policies and procedures of lending and investment, developing sustainable business opportunities - particularly lending and investments related to climate change - including low carbon energy, water infrastructure and forestry and helping to reduce HSBC's direct impact on the environment.

Since joining HSBC, an environmental action plan has been approved to target key areas of the bank. This covers the Group’s property, purchasing and IT functions, as well as lending, asset management, training and communications. Francis also chaired the carbon management task force that led to HSBC becoming the first major bank to be carbon neutral. In 2007, HSBC also announced a new five-year partnership with four international NGOs called the HSBC Climate Partnership, and committed US$100 million of support.

Before his move to HSBC, Francis held a number of roles in WWF, having worked for WWF-International, WWF-Netherlands as well as WWF-UK. During this time he has worked extensively with business and industry and has a track record in delivering practical solutions in areas such as forest certification and protected area establishment and management.

Francis has a BA (Hons) in Agriculture and Forest Sciences and an MSc in Forestry and its relation to land use, both from Oxford University.

Francis is a currently a member of the judging panel of the Whitley Awards for Nature Conservation, a member of the Advisory Board of the Environmental Change Institute at Oxford University and Vodafone’s CR Expert Advisory Panel.