Tide will be the first fintech in the world to remove 100% of its emissions

Tide, the leading digital business finance platform, has raised the bar on climate action by becoming the first fintech in the world to remove 100% of its emissions with sustainable carbon removal from last year. The business has also committed to becoming fully Net Zero by 2030 and supporting its UK members (around 9% of UK SMEs), and a growing network of Indian SMEs on their Net Zero journeys.

Tide has made three pledges to ensure it is part of the global solution to dealing with the devastating consequences of climate change:

● Pledge 1: Tide Removal Net Zero – Tide commits to remove 100% of our emissions with sustainable carbon removal from 2022 onwards.

● Pledge 2: Tide Reduction Net Zero – Tide will reduce 90% of our 2021 emissions per employee by 2030. By doing so, we will reduce emissions by 97% on an income basis. Commitments 1 and 2 will make Tide completely Net Zero by 2030.

● Pledge 3: Tide Member Net Zero – Tide is committed to making Net Zero easier for our members by developing support for them to get to Net Zero.

By delivering first promise, Tide has become the first fintech in the world to remove 100% of emissions through permanent carbon removal. Tide has achieved this by purchasing 3,711 tonnes of permanent biochar removal. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports that biochar is one of the safest, fastest and most sustainable ways to draw down and store carbon. Tide’s purchase can be seen on CDR.fyi, the largest open registry for long-term carbon removal, ensuring transparency. According to the CDR.fyi 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. Tide is committed to purchasing permanent removal for its global carbon emissions every year going forward.

Delivers the first and second promise will make Tide completely Net Zero by 2030, and finally meet the standards of the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi), an international coalition that includes the UN and WWF. Tide will reduce 90% of the scope 1. 3 carbon emissions per employee by 2030 and in doing so will also reduce emissions by 97% on a revenue basis as the business scales. Tide has been working with carbon removal marketplace and Net Zero platform Supercritical to monitor and track its global carbon emissions, as well as review and propose changes to Tide’s business practices. Tide purchased the 3,711 tons of permanent carbon removal through Supercritical’s researched marketplace.

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.

Finally, it third promise means that Tide plans to roll out an initiative later in 2023 to help its 500,000+ members worldwide start their own journey to Net Zero by introducing products, features and content to help them. Tide 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 growing number of SMEs using Tide in India.

To ensure transparency, Tide will regularly update the progress on its website Tide.co. In establishing these pledges, Tide engaged Carbon Footprint Ltd to verify Tide’s carbon footprint assessment and evidence of support for 2021, and for the period 1 January 2022 to 31 December 2022. Carbon Footprint Ltd completed the review in accordance with ‘ISO 14064 Part 3 (2019): Greenhouse gases: Specification with guidance for the verification and validation of greenhouse gas declarations’.

Ian Sutherland, CFO and Head of Net Zero, Tide said: “Companies must take action now, not tomorrow when it comes to climate change. At Tide, we are taking decisive action to limit the spiraling effects that greenhouse gases have on the Earth’s atmosphere. With this, Tide is committing today to balance the books on CO2 for good.

“Although 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 proud to be the first fintech in the world to remove 100% of our emissions and we will become a fully Net Zero business by 2030 through a large and ongoing investment in decarbonisation and sustainable carbon removal.

“We are also excited to work with our members to deliver meaningful change. In the UK in particular, where they are facing challenges with the cost of doing business and the need for greater energy security, we believe there is a huge opportunity for smaller companies to switch to renewable energy and achieve greater energy and resource efficiency.”

Kevin Niparko, Co-Founder, CDR.fyi, added: “Sustainable removal of carbon – together with deep decarbonisation efforts – is the key to combating climate change. But the carbon removal market is still in its infancy. We need more companies to commit to buying sustainable carbon removal to help our planet avoid the most devastating effects of climate change. That’s why we’re so excited about Tide’s announcement today. 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% of their emissions and invest in CDR.”

Michelle You, CEO and co-founder of carbon removal platform Supercritical, said: “We are delighted to have worked with Tide in shaping the strategy to remove 100% of emissions with sustainable decarbonisation from today onwards and are proud that they recognize the importance of kick-starting the early decarbonisation market and helping suppliers to to scale. With this huge and important milestone, they are setting a leading example for all companies on their journey to Net Zero.”