"HSBC has sent deeply concerning signals around whether managing the rapidly multiplying financial risks of global heating is still one of its priorities," said Jeanne Martin, head of the banking program at ShareAction.
A spokesperson for HSBC declined to comment, noting that the bank's senior management will be able to address such questions during the AGM.
HSBC last year parted ways with chief sustainability officer, Celine Herweijer, replacing the Ph.D. in climate modeling with a former head of global banking for the Middle East, North Africa, and Turkiye.
Herweijer's successor, Julian Wentzel, has since criticised what he characterises as a negative bias against fossil fuels, and underlined the "very important role" of the carbon economy.
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Wentzel's comments came not long after HSBC walked back some of its earlier emissions goals, a move it said was necessary because of the slow pace of decarbonization in the wider economy. The bank has pushed back its targets for eliminating operational emissions by 20 years and is reviewing its emissions reduction targets for its lending to seven high-carbon sectors.
Such developments have left climate-conscious investors "in the dark on just how committed the bank remains to playing its significant part in securing the long-term prosperity of our global economy," Martin said.
HSBC, whose chairman, Mark Tucker, just announced his intention to step back after eight years at the helm, is no stranger to such campaigns. It's faced a shareholder resolution on its lending to fossil fuel clients, has been asked to ramp up its financing of renewables, and its annual meeting is regularly disrupted by climate activists. Investors backing the latest resolution include AkademikerPension, the Church of England Pensions Board and Rathbones Investment Management.
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"This group of investors is calling on the bank to urgently affirm it will continue to build on its existing climate progress rather than backtrack, and to undertake this process in dialogue with shareholders," Martin said. "If the bank fails to do so it should not expect shareholders to remain silent."
Banks are major contributors to global warming via their financing and lending activities, providing the world's biggest polluters with funding for extraction and drilling. Their role as the money pipeline for the fossil-fuel industry has attracted greater scrutiny from investors and activists in recent years.
