Task 1: Net Zero Idea Brainstorming Example Answer
Note: As you will see, the ideas below are not perfect, but they do not need to be at this stage. Some of them may not be
feasible and others may be low impact. At this stage, the most important thing is to be creative and consider any and all ideas.
This list is not comprehensive.
Category Idea
● Source energy from renewable sources rather than non-renewable ones.
● Consider solar panels at branches where conditions allow.
● Automate the heating/cooling of the office to conserve energy during the
winter/summer months
to maintain the temperature at comfortable level
Energy/utilities
● Ensure windows and doors are closed quickly to control temperature (e.g., don’t let
front doors remain open to let heat escape in winter).
● Utilise automatic, sensor-driven lighting to shut off lights in areas that are not in use.
● Purchase more carbon offsets to compensate for remaining emissions.
● Consolidate equipment/supply providers and deliveries to ensure fewer trips.
● Encourage usage of digital documentation and print documents on both sides by
default when
printing is absolutely required.
Supply chain (e.g., equipment
& supplies) ● Replace paper promotional items (brochures, etc.) with digital ones, leveraging QR
codes, etc.
● Revisit employee uniform standards and source from greener options where
possible.
● Completely remove single-use plastic from our facilities.
● Introduce a higher bar for employee travel, e.g., flights not permitted where train
travel is available and reasonable.
● Permit employees to work from home to reduce their commuting emissions.
● Provide enhanced distributed working tools and policies to enable more
telecommuting
(e.g., video call technology).
HQ employee practices
● Reconfigure food and beverage options within corporate offices to source local,
greener options.
● Implement nudge signposting around the office to remind employees of the
environmental
impact of their actions.
● Expand product offering to enable more tasks to be done online, requiring less
customer visits/less cars on the road, etc.
● Develop educational campaigns to help increase customer awareness of tasks which
are available online.
● Improve the user experience of our online products/tasks to remove barrier to wider
Our Products adoption.
● Build more products in the cloud/migrate existing products to the cloud where
emissions are lower.
● Change customer communications policies to online-only by default, requiring
customers to opt-in to receive paper-based communications.
Other – facilities ● Consolidate branches where the distance between two (or more) is within an
acceptable range.
● Reduce the amount of electrical components that are always on within the branches,
e.g., informational TV screens, number of ATMs, etc.
● Provide recycling bins and educate employees on their benefits for the environment.
● Require energy compliance audit of each facility every 12 months, where an
emissions
expert provides suggestions to further reduce emissions.
● Offer public transport subsidies to encourage employees to utilise greener transport
methods.
Other – employees ● Appoint net zero champions within each location to encourage compliance and build
excitement for our net zero initiatives.
●...
This Virtual Experience is designed and produced by InsideSherpa Inc (d/b/a Forage, a Delaware incorporation located at 251 Little Falls Drive, Wilmington,
Delaware, 19808-1675 United States of America (“Forage”)) for educational purposes only and is subject to the terms and conditions of this website.
Nothing presented in this Virtual Experience should be taken as an accurate representation of the HSBC Group’s views or the work undertaken by the HSBC Group.
Nothing in this Virtual Experience is intended to promote or advertise any product or service by any member of the HSBC Group of companies. To learn more
about HSBC Group’s business visit www.hsbc.com.
All tasks, materials, companies and people featured in this Virtual Experience are simulated and entirely fictional. Any resemblance to real persons (either living or
dead) or other real-life entities is purely coincidental.
The supporting documents and model answer in this task are not a reflection of the activities undertaken by HSBC to achieve net zero. Information on HSBC’s
commitment to net zero is available here: https://www.hsbc.com/who-we-are/our-climate-strategy/net-zero-in-our-operations
