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HSBC’s Suspended Banker Taken to Task by Key Architect of ESG

  • Clements-Hunt says HSBC’s Kirk is out of touch with science
  • Others say Kirk’s comments reflect what bankers say in private
Stuart Kirk speaks at the FT Live Moral Money Summit Europe conference on May 20.

Stuart Kirk speaks at the FT Live Moral Money Summit Europe conference on May 20.

Source: FT Live/YouTube

As the ESG industry digests the outburst from a senior banker at HSBC Holdings Plc, an early proponent of the environmental, social and governance movement is taking the opportunity to set the record straight.

Paul Clements-Hunt, the man who helped coin the acronym ESG in the mid-2000s, has characterized the comments by HSBC’s now-suspended Stuart Kirk as being out of touch with science.