Klarna becomes first Fintech to join The Climate Pledge and Race to Zero campaign

Klarna, a leading global retail bank, payments, and shopping service, today announces that the company is joining The Climate Pledge and the Race to Zero campaign. Klarna is to implement decarbonization strategies in line with the Paris Agreement in order to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions in all scopes by 2040 at the latest. The announcement builds on the company’s commitment earlier this year to reduce its total emissions by 50% by 2030 and to use an internal carbon tax that is channeled into effective climate projects.

David Sandström, CMO of Klarna, says: “We as a global company have a great responsibility to tackle some of the most pressing challenges for our planet’s health. We therefore join forces with other major players to prevent long-term damage to our economies and ways of life. Managing Klarna’s environmental impact is a top priority for Klarna and we aim to further promote environmental awareness and knowledge among our employees, customers and partners.”

The Climate Pledge is a commitment co-founded by Amazon and Global Optimism to reach net zero carbon emission by 2040, 10 years ahead of the Paris Agreement. Race to Zero is an UN-backed global campaign that aims to build a momentum around the shift to a decarbonized economy and thus halve all global emissions by 2030.

As part of the Climate Pledge Klarna commits itself to:

• Measure and report greenhouse gas emissions on a regular basis
• Implement decarbonization strategies in line with the Paris Agreement through real business changes and innovations, including efficiency improvements, renewable energy, materials reductions, and other carbon emission elimination strategies
• Neutralize any remaining emissions with additional, quantifiable, real, permanent, and socially-beneficial offsets to achieve net zero annual carbon emissions

By 2040, at the latest, the amount of greenhouse gas emissions permanently removed thanks to Klarna´s climate contributions will be at least as large as the company’s remaining emissions. More details on Klarnas total emissions and how the company is working to reduce them will be published in a separate climate report during the fall.

Klarna’s climate strategy is inspired by the WWF and BCG blueprint for corporate climate action, under which companies measure, display, reduce and price their emissions, and then financially contribute to high-impact climate projects to permanently remove carbon. The annual sum is established through an internal carbon tax set at $100/tonne for all scope 1, 2 and travel emissions (remaining scope 3 emissions set at $10/tonne).

These steps are part of Klarna´s larger sustainability initiative GiveOne that was announced on Earth Day this year. As part of the initiative, Klarna has allocated 1% of its latest funding rounds to initiatives supporting the planet. The donations will focus on backing initiatives tackling the most pressing challenges around climate change and loss of biodiversity.