Sustainability Leadership in Focus: Ellen Jackowski, Chief Sustainability Officer at Mastercard, Explores the Private Sector’s Role
“Mastercard’s Commitment to Climate Action: A Conversation with Ellen Jackowski, Chief Sustainability Officer”
The climate emergency keeps getting worse, and Mastercard wants to be one of the businesses doing something real about it. Ellen Jackowski, its Chief Sustainability Officer, talked about how the company is pushing for more sustainable practices. Her focus is on three areas: sustainable consumption, climate action that includes everyone, and nature-based solutions.
Mastercard started at home. It has cut its own carbon footprint by 41% and has committed to reaching net zero by 2040. But Jackowski thinks the bigger opportunity is outside the company, in its network. That network covers 90 million merchants, more than 20,000 banking partners and over three billion cards worldwide. Mastercard wants to work with partners all along the value chain to speed up the move to a sustainable, inclusive economy.
Consumers are a big part of the plan. Mastercard wants to inspire them, inform them and make it easier for them to act. Take the Mastercard Carbon Calculator: it shows people the carbon emissions linked to what they buy, so they can make better choices. The company also nudges shoppers toward more conscious habits and works with its merchants and banks to push for change.
For Jackowski, enabling consumers means removing the obstacles that stop them from acting on climate and giving them ways to get involved. Mastercard has set a goal of restoring 100 million trees and is working with groups such as Conservation International and the World Resources Institute to get there. It also runs the Priceless Planet Coalition with business partners across its value chain. Through campaigns and tools like the Carbon Calculator, cardholders can put money toward restoration projects.
With Jackowski in charge of sustainability, Mastercard is doing more than shrinking its own footprint. It is using its global reach and its many partnerships to back climate projects that make a difference.
