This collaboration aims to bolster companies within the “Google Cloud Ready – Sustainability” ecosystem by providing financing and technological assistance. HSBC extends its inaugural venture debt funding within the partnership to LevelTen Energy.
Today, HSBC has unveiled a strategic alliance with Google Cloud aimed at expediting climate mitigation and resilience efforts by extending financing and assistance to companies enrolled in the Google Cloud Ready – Sustainability (GCR-Sustainability) program.
GCR-Sustainability serves as a validation program for enterprises leveraging Google Cloud solutions to address objectives such as reducing carbon emissions, enhancing sustainability across value chains, and analyzing ESG data to identify climate-related risks.
As part of this new collaboration, Google Cloud will introduce GCR-Sustainability participants to HSBC’s dedicated climate tech finance team to explore options for venture debt financing.
Key objectives of the partnership include:
Google Cloud plans to expand the GCR – Sustainability program by increasing the number of partners over the next two years. HSBC aims to identify financing opportunities for companies within the GCR-Sustainability ecosystem, aligning with its commitment to deploy $1 billion in climate tech finance while facilitating connections with HSBC’s client base. Natalie Blyth, Global Head of Commercial Banking Sustainability at HSBC, emphasized the importance of scaling up new technologies to support global decarbonization. She highlighted the role of partnerships and innovative financing solutions, especially given the decline in investment in climate tech startups. By combining financing support, cloud technologies, and connectivity to partners, HSBC aims to accelerate the growth of climate tech vendors and develop solutions urgently needed at scale.
Justin Keeble, Managing Director for Global Sustainability at Google Cloud, emphasized the necessity of a global ecosystem of technology providers to address the climate challenge effectively. He underscored the importance of supporting firms integral to climate action and expressed excitement about partnering with HSBC to provide financial access to climate tech companies.
The partnership kicks off with a venture debt financing package from HSBC to LevelTen Energy, a GCR-Sustainability-validated company. LevelTen Energy specializes in providing renewable transaction infrastructure for stakeholders in the clean energy economy. The venture debt package will enable LevelTen Energy to scale its platform, which facilitates clean energy transactions valued at over $5 billion to date.
Ross Trenary, Chief Financial Officer of LevelTen, expressed pride in being a GCR-Sustainability-validated company and anticipation for collaborating with HSBC. He highlighted how the venture debt package will support the expansion of LevelTen’s platform, aligning with HSBC’s global reach and offering opportunities to connect with clients striving to achieve sustainability goals.
This partnership builds upon the launch of an HSBC credit risk advisory tool on Google Cloud and HSBC’s commitment to deploying $1 billion in financing to early-stage climate tech companies. It also follows the introduction of HSBC Innovation Banking, a specialized banking proposition designed to support various innovation businesses and their investors.
