HSBC has entered into a partnership with Google Cloud to accelerate climate mitigation and resilience through financing and support for companies in the Google Cloud Ready-Sustainability (GCR-Sustainability) program.
GCR-Sustainability is a validation program for companies with solutions available on Google Cloud, helping customers achieve goals, including carbon emission reduction, increased sustainability in value chains and processing of ESG data to help identify climate risks.
As part of the new partnership, Google Cloud will introduce GCR-Sustainability companies to HSBC’s specialist climate tech finance team to explore venture debt financing options.
Google Cloud will increase the number of partners in the GCR-Sustainability program over the next two years. Additionally, the bank will seek financing opportunities for companies within the GCR-Sustainability ecosystem, as part of its ambition to deploy $1bn of climate tech finance, as well as facilitating connections with HSBC’s global customer base.
Justin Keeble, managing director for global sustainability at Google Cloud, said: “The scale of climate challenge requires a global ecosystem of technology providers bringing solutions that drive impact. This is why we launched our Google Cloud Ready-Sustainability ecosystem which – one year in – includes leading climate tech companies. Many of these partners need access to finance and we are excited to partner with HSBC to support firms key to climate action.”
Natalie Blyth, global head of commercial banking sustainability at HSBC, said: “A step change is needed to scale up the new technologies that will play a critical role in supporting global decarbonization.
“Partnerships and innovative financing solutions are key, especially during a period when investment in climate tech startups has fallen. By combining financing support, cloud technologies and connectivity to partners across our combined footprints, we will help climate tech vendors accelerate their growth and develop the solutions we urgently need at scale.”
The partnership launches with a venture debt financing package from HSBC delivered to GCR-Sustainability-validated company LevelTen Energy. LevelTen Energy provides renewable transaction infrastructure for buyers, sellers, advisors and finances in the clean energy economy.
