HSBC aims to achieve carbon neutrality this year. As well as a drive to reduce its CO2 emissions, it will consider offsets such as emissions trading, which has the potential to become a free-standing investment market. Jules Stewart reports. It is not often that a bank makes the news as a champion of the environment. But HSBC, the world’s second-largest bank, has taken on that role with the aim of becoming the world’s first major bank to commit to going carbon neutral.