HSBC and Google Cloud announced today the launch of a new partnership aimed at financing and supporting companies providing climate mitigation and resilience solutions.

The new partnership will connect HSBC’s specialist climate tech finance team with companies in the Google Cloud Ready – Sustainability (GCR-Sustainability) validation programme to explore venture debt financing options. Launched in 2022, GCR-Sustainability showcases companies with solutions available on Google Cloud to help businesses and governments to accelerate their sustainability programs and initiatives, including carbon emission reduction, value chain sustainability improvement and ESG data processing to help identify climate risks.

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.” 

According to the companies, the new partnership targets key goals including increasing the number of partners in the GCR – Sustainability programme over the next two years, and providing financing opportunities for HSBC, following its announcement last year of a goal to make $1 billion available to support early-stage climate tech companies around the world.

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.”

With the launch of the new collaboration, HSBC and Google announced the partnership’s first venture debt package, provided to LevelTen Energy, a provider of renewable transaction infrastructure connecting and supporting renewable energy buyers, advisors and sellers. In addition to its validation in GCR-Sustainability, LevelTen partnered with Google last year to develop a faster and easier RFP process for renewable Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs), speeding up the time to negotiate and execute deals by around 80% and enabling the acceleration of clean energy deployment.

Ross Trenary, Chief Financial Officer of LevelTen, said:

“We are proud to be a GCR-Sustainability-validated company and are looking forward to working closely with the team at HSBC. This venture debt package will enable us to scale our platform, which provides transaction infrastructure for carbon-free energy buyers, sellers and financiers. HSBC’s global reach aligns with our international presence, while giving us opportunities to connect with HSBC clients that are looking to achieve sustainability goals.”