HSBC Banker Quits After Blasting ‘Nut Job’ Climate Panic

A high-ranking HSBC executive has resigned, claiming that his position had become “unsustainable” as a result of backlash from a speech he gave last spring downplaying the financial risks of climate change.

Stuart Kirk, who was serving as HSBC Asset Management Global Head of Responsible Investment, announced his resignation in a LinkedIn post on July 7. In the post, Kirk criticized “the nonsense, hypocrisy, sloppy logic, and group-think inside the mainstream bubble of sustainable finance,” claiming the company stifled viewpoint diversity and stuck to “bonkers” ideas about sustainable investment.

Kirk went on leave from HSBC in May following an address to the FT Moral Money Summit Europe in London. In his speech, the HSBC executive downplayed the risks of climate change for investors, stating that the impacts of manmade climate change were greatly exaggerated and decades from fruition.

“There’s always some nut job telling me about the end of the world,” Kirk said in his controversial address, in which he compared climate alarmists to gold bugs and proponents of Y2K panic.

After several months on leave, and following a lengthy backlash to his remarks, Kirk evidently concluded that his position at the company was “unsustainable.” The embattled banker announced his resignation in the aforementioned LinkedIn post, in which he criticizes the dominant orthodoxy on Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance (ESG)—an approach to investing which considers social responsibilities.

“Investing is hard. So is saving our planet. Opinions on both differ,” said Kirk in his post. “But humanity’s best chance of success is open and honest debate. If companies believe in diversity and speaking up, they need to walk the talk. A cancel culture destroys wealth and progress.”

“There is no place for virtue signaling in finance. Likewise as a writer, researcher, and investor, I know that words or trading shares can only achieve