SumUp Doubles Down On ESG Initiatives For 2024, Announces The Creation Of The “SumUp Forest” In Peru

SumUp broadens its ESG agenda and expands educational programs across South America

Global financial technology company SumUp continues its industry-leading ESG agenda, today announcing a raft of new actions and pledges, encouraging other financial companies to play their role in tackling social issues and mitigating climate change. 

SumUp, who were the first major fintech company to sign up to the 1% for the Planet project in 2022, pledging 1% of future net revenues from its SOLO card readers to environmental causes, extended itsr commitment to environmental initiatives across South and Central America in 2023 through its work with Wilderness International and StoveTeam International.

However, today SumUp are also announcing its intention to double down on education and entrepreneurial initiatives with Indian charity, Dharma Life, Brazilian charity, Monte Azul, and American charity, Generation. 

Environmental Initiatives  

  • SumUp has extended its work with Wilderness International - a non-profit organisation who protects acutely threatened wilderness areas around the world - to create The SumUp Forest. SumUp has sponsored 200,000m² of protected forest in the Madre de Dios region of the Peruvian Amazon.

  • SumUp continues supporting StoveTeam International, a Portland-based charity committed to assisting local entrepreneurs across Central America produce and distribute clean-burning cookstoves.

Educational Initiatives 

SumUp is also committed to promoting education and opportunity. 

  • Since 2022, SumUp has offered 3-month Java Full Stack development courses to over 120 students across Chile, Brazil and Colombia in partnership with the charity Generation, providing tech education to women and girls, migrants, LGBTQ+, and other underprivileged and vulnerable people.

  • SumUp is expanding its efforts to encourage education in the impoverished communities in São Paulo, Brazil, supporting four cultural, musical, and educational projects led by Monte Azul, whose aim is making local life more humane, supporting children, young people and women in particular. 

  • SumUp has expanded its work with Dharma Life, an Indian charity dedicated to poverty alleviation through rural entrepreneurship. SumUp has committed to supporting the “Lighting Up Young Minds Learning” programme that aims to deliver technology-driven education to 10,000 children in India annually. 

SumUp Global Head of Diversity & Inclusion and ESG Felizitas Lichtenberg: “Businesses must continue to champion ESG, supporting the communities and causes that need it the most. As a fintech, it is our social responsibility to give back to communities and help create equal opportunities for those from less fortunate backgrounds."