Fintech turns the tide on Net Zero Aims by removing 100% of emissions

Digital business financial platform Tide has achieved the removal of 100 percent of its emissions with permanent carbon removal.

Tide claims it has become the first fintech in the world to remove all its emissions through permanent carbon removal. Fintech achieved the goal by purchasing 3,711 tons of permanent biochar removal. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has reported that biochar is one of the safest, fastest and most sustainable ways to both draw down and store carbon.

The purchases can be viewed CDR.fyi, an open registry for long-duration carbon removal. According to the registry, Tide’s purchase of biochar makes it one of the top 20 carbon removal buyers in the world and the first fintech globally to do so.

Kevin Niparko, co-founder of CDR.fyi, said: “The delivery of 3,711 tonnes of removed CO2 is one of the largest deliveries of carbon removal in history. Tide is leading the way for other financial technologies to take responsibility for 100 percent of emissions and invest in CDR.”

The news sees Tide succeed in fulfilling one of three pledges it has made to ensure it is part of the global solution to dealing with the consequences of climate change.

1. Tidal removal Net Zero: A commitment to remove 100 percent of emissions with permanent carbon removal from 2022 onwards.
2. Tidal reduction net zero: Reduce 90 percent of 2021 emissions per employee by 2030. Tide plans to reduce emissions by 97 percent on a revenue basis.
3. Tide Member Net Zero: Aims to make net zero easier for members by developing support for them to achieve it.

Turn the tide on carbon emissions

When Tide also fully achieves its second pledge (in addition to the first), it will achieve its net zero by 2030 ambitions. This will also ensure that it meets the standards of Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi), an international coalition included United Nations and WWF.

Ian Sutherland, CFO and Head of Net Zero at Tide said: “Companies need to act now, not tomorrow when it comes to climate change. In Tide, we take decisive action to limit the spiral effects that greenhouse gases have on the Earth’s atmosphere. With this, Tide commits itself today to balance the books on CO2 for good.

“While we at Tide may not make much of a difference on our own, by also supporting our growing international network of SME members, we will. We are also proud to be the first fintech in the world to remove 100 percent of our emissions, and will become a fully net zero business by 2030 through a major and ongoing investment in decarbonization and permanent carbon removal.”

In its effort to follow through on its commitment to its second promise, Tide has already implemented policies to reduce the carbon footprint of its 1,250 employees worldwide. These include a travel policy that limits long-haul business trips to two weeks.

Tide’s third pledge precedes plans to roll out an initiative later in 2023 to help its more than 500,000 members begin their journey to zero. Fintech aims to introduce products, features, as well as content to help them.

The fintech also believes it can achieve an additional one million tonnes of sustainable carbon removal (CO2e) from the atmosphere by 2030 by activating its powerful network of member companies in the UK and increasing the number of SMEs using Tide in India.