HSBC says governments' climate plans need to provide sector details

LONDON (Reuters) - Governments reporting their plans and progress in bringing down national levels of planet-warming carbon emissions need to provide detail at sector level to make them workable, said HSBC group chief sustainability officer Celine Herweijer.

Banks like HSBC have pledged to spend trillions of dollars on projects badged as green or sustainable in an effort to help keep global warming within planetary boundaries, but say without clear policy direction from governments, it is challenging to meet these goals.

Countries are required to publish their Nationally Determined Contributions, or NDCs for short, which chart their way to net-zero emissions by February next year.

"Next year is important, its 10 years after the Paris Agreement and governments need to submit their NDCs," Herweijer told a Reuters Newsmaker event in New York.

"What we need within those is more detail at the sector level."

Herweijer also said nuclear energy was critical for energy transition and the lender was in discussions with a number of clients to finance such projects on both large and small scale.

(Reporting by Virginia Furness, writing by Karin Strohecker)