At a time when sustainable finance faced significant headwinds across the Middle East, HSBC demonstrated exceptional resilience and innovation.
Despite a regional market contraction of nearly 25% in sustainable debt volumes, according to Dealogic, HSBC grew its sustainable finance business by 15% to $5.3 billion in 2024 from $4.6 billion, securing the top position in the ESG loan league table with a 23% market share.
A remarkable performance across specific product areas supported this growth: green trade loans increased by 25%, social loans surged by 224%, sustainability-linked loans grew by 55%, and infrastructure finance loans expanded by an impressive 242% year-on-year.
Groundbreaking transactions included the world’s first sustainability-linked loan bond and the Middle East’s only sovereign ESG issuances for Qatar and Sharjah in 2024. The bank also introduced the region’s first Islamic ESG KPI-linked repo with Al Rayan Bank Group, successfully blending Shariah-compliant structures with sustainability metrics.
HSBC is the only bank explicitly referenced in the UAE’s Nationally Determined Contributions
In trade finance, HSBC structured a $170 million sustainability-linked trade loan for PDS, linking sustainability KPIs to both receivables finance and FX lines across the UAE and Hong Kong markets.
HSBC enabled renewable projects with an aggregate capacity of approximately 10GW, including the $1.5 billion financing for a 1.8GW solar photovoltaic plant in the UAE, where HSBC served as regional green facility coordinator.
The bank’s sustainable finance strategy is guided by its Global Net Zero Transition Plan, launched in 2024 – the only company-wide net-zero transition plan by a bank in the Middle East, it claims. This framework sets on-balance sheet financed emissions targets for key carbon-intensive sectors, providing $750 billion to $1 trillion in sustainable finance and investment by 2030.
HSBC is the only bank explicitly referenced in the UAE’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC 3.0), collaborating with the UAE’s Ministry of Climate Change and Environment on climate finance plans.
