Global banking and financial services company HSBC announced today a series of senior sustainability appointments, including Natalie Blyth as Global Head of Commercial Banking Sustainability, Christian Deseglise as Group Head of Sustainable Infrastructure and Innovation, and Chris Webb as Group Head of Carbon Markets.

Blyth joined HSBC 14 years ago, and for the past five years, she has served as Global Head of Trade and Receivables Finance. In her new role, she will own Commercial Banking’s holistic sustainability business and strategy and will lead the delivery of solutions to customers. Additionally, Blyth will help product teams develop sustainable finance propositions, and will manage Commercial Banking’s sustainability-linked partnerships, advocacy, and investments.

Deseglise joined HSBC in 2010 as Managing Director and has held a number of other leadership positions within the organization. Most recently, he served as Head of Sustainable Finance and Investments in Global Banking and Markets. He also helped launch the FAST-Infra Sustainable Infrastructure (SI) Label at COP26 – a labeling system to identify and evaluate sustainable infrastructure assets.  In his new role, Deseglise will focus on catalyzing sustainable infrastructure solutions and developing ventures to support the bank’s commitment to the net zero transition.

Webb joins HSBC from The Nature Conservancy (TNC), where he led their carbon markets strategy and the global coordination of work using carbon pricing as a catalyst to scale natural climate solutions. Prior to TNC, Webb served for 12 years at PricewaterhouseCoopers, driving PwC’s work on carbon markets and ecosystem services with corporates, governments, and investors.

Deseglise and Webb will both report to Dr. Celine Herweijer, Group Chief Sustainability Officer, who was appointed in July 2021 to lead the execution of HSBC’s sustainability agenda as a member of the Group Executive Committee. Herweijer, said:

“I am delighted with these new appointments across the bank. We have a huge agenda ahead to be at the heart of financing the transition to net zero. We want to lead with capability not commitments and drive innovation and impact at scale. These appointments are critical roles, and we want to be a top destination for sustainability and climate talent around the world as we build further.”