HSBC Mexico HQ recognised as greenest office building in Latin America

HSBC has been awarded Latin America’s first-ever LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold certificate for its headquarters building in Mexico. The accreditation, from the Mexico Green Building Council, concluded that the HSBC ‘Torre’ building has significantly outperformed in such areas as energy efficiency, potable water reduction, waste water technologies, waste management and use of environmentally friendly recycled furniture. Key features of the building include: a green roof to enhance biodiversity (Latin America’s largest), a water treatment plant, intelligent lighting systems and specially designed windows to keep the building cool.
Over the next few years, HSBC has committed to spending some US$40 million to improve the environmental performance of its office buildings around the world. The funds form part of a US$90 million, five year, global environmental efficiency programme to reduce the Group’s broader impact on the environment. By 2011, the Group is seeking to achieve a minimum of LEED-Gold certification or equivalent in 50 of its major buildings. To date, HSBC has achieved certification in four of its buildings, including LEED-Gold certification for its zero carbon branch in the town of Greece, New York State.

Simon Martin, Head of Group Corporate Sustainability, HSBC, said: “Maximising the efficiency of our buildings is fundamental to sustainable business practice. We’re delighted to receive this award, which further illustrates our commitment to reduce HSBC’s environmental impacts.”

Ken Hydes, Chair, World Green Building Council, commented: “The LEED Gold certification of the HSBC Tower in Mexico City represents a major milestone in the development of sustainable office buildings in Mexico and throughout the Latin America region.”



Media enquiries to Neil Brazil on +44 20 7992 1572 or at neilbrazil@hsbc.com


About LEED
The LEED™ (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Green Building Rating System is a voluntary third party rating system where credits are earned for satisfying specified green building criteria. Projects are evaluated within six environmental categories: Sustainable Sites, Water Efficiency, Energy and Atmosphere, Materials and Resources, and Indoor Environmental Quality. Certified, Silver, Gold, and Platinum levels of green building certification are awarded based on the total credits earned. The LEED standard has been adopted nationwide by federal agencies, state and local governments, and interested private companies as the industry standard of measurement for green building.

HSBC Holdings plc
HSBC Holdings plc serves over 125 million customers worldwide through around 10,000 offices in 83 countries and territories in Europe, the Asia-Pacific region, the Americas, the Middle East and Africa. With assets of some US$2,150 billion at 30 June 2007, HSBC is one of the world’s largest banking and financial services organisations. HSBC is marketed worldwide as ‘the world’s local bank’.

Mexico Green Building Council – www.mexicogbc.org
The Mexico Green Building council is a member of the World Green Building Council - a union of national councils whose mission is to accelerate the transformation of the global property industry towards sustainability. The current member nations of the WorldGBC, including the MexicoGBC, represent over 50 per cent of global construction activity, and touch more than 8,000 companies and organisations worldwide