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The feature lets businesses redirect portions of their revenue to initiatives that tackle carbon emissions and the climate crisis.
Payments giant Stripe has rolled out its carbon removal purchase tool to its global customer base.
First launched in the US last year, Stripe Climate is a tool for redirecting some online business revenue towards initiatives for reducing carbon emissions.
Much like Stripe’s payments infrastructure, the Climate tool has been designed for easy set-up by large companies and small and medium-sized businesses alike, without the need to write any code. More than 100 companies in Europe have now signed up, including Irish coffee shop chain Coffee Angel.
Stripe collects the funds, without any fees, and directs the proceeds to four tech initiatives that tackle the climate crisis and reduce carbon footprints. The four projects, specialising in energy capture and storage, are Switzerland’s Climeworks, which is developing a large carbon removal plant in Iceland; San Francisco’s Project Vesta and Charm Industrial; and Canada’s CarbonCure.
Last year Stripe purchased $1m of carbon removal from these companies.
Reducing global emissions to net zero by 2050 will be vital in limiting temperature increases on the planet, and removing carbon in the atmosphere will be a key part of that strategy.
However, a recent study from PwC stated that carbon capture and storage start-ups received less venture capital investment compared to other green energy start-ups. According to the Stripe, the funds it gathers will help some of these projects commercialise their nascent technologies.
Stripe said in a statement that its goal is to “create a large market for carbon removal”.
“If successful, this market will accelerate the availability of low-cost, permanent carbon removal technologies, and increase the likelihood that the world has the portfolio of solutions needed to avoid the most catastrophic effects of climate change,” the company said.
“Many of our users have told us they want to take climate action, but don’t because figuring out what to do can be time-intensive and complicated,” it said on the launch of Stripe Climate in more markets.
Among the companies that have signed up to Stripe Climate is newsletter platform Substack.
“Stripe’s climate initiative is a gift because it removes all barriers to positive action. This program makes it easy, and valuable, to do the right thing,” Substack CEO Chris Best said.
