Finance

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.

Source: FT Live/YouTube
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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.