Over the past year Computop has taken stock of its own emissions, which largely relate to transportation, in particular company cars, fuel consumption, and, to a lesser degree, flying. It has focused on reducing direct emissions, but, acknowledged that it was unable to deliver over 350 payment methods for customers worldwide without employees to develop its platform, maintain the technology and protect data, so it would need to effectively offset the total.

As part of Leaders for Climate Action, Computop became involved in an initiative run by Microsol to provide Peruvian farmers with cookstoves constructed with local materials by local people. Each new stove emits less greenhouse gas emissions compared to traditional stone or terracotta stoves and provides vulnerable families in rural regions with access to energy and cooking solutions that are better for their health, more economical and require less firewood. Computop has contributed financially to the project, which has, so far, reduced total emissions by 250,000 tonnes.

“As a business we primarily process data, which means that our carbon footprint is relatively small - around 500 tonnes last year - but that doesn’t mean we have no impact on the environment,” said Ralf Gladis, CEO at Computop. “It is our duty as an organisation to demonstrate our commitment to reduce CO2 emissions and show best practice to our customers and our industry. Working with the Leaders for Climate Action, which is goal oriented, means that we are in the company of other organisations striving towards lowering emissions, and actively off-setting CO2 by getting involved in vital projects like Microsol.”

Computop is currently making further reductions to its carbon footprint, facilitated by remote working during the global pandemic, and is encouraging its payment customers to hold it to account in terms of the emissions it creates for payment processing.

“We want our customers to recognise that they are using a carbon-neutral payment service when they work with us,” says Ralf Gladis. “Like the 700 companies that are part of Leaders for Climate Action, doing business in a climate-friendly way, is very important, and undoubtedly many of our customers will feel the same way.”