To mitigate the threat of climate change, the majority of climate models indicate that the world will need to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere on the scale of approximately 6 gigatons of CO2 per year by 2050. That’s roughly the equivalent of the United States’ annual emissions. But the world is not on track to achieve this. Recognizing this immense challenge, Flexport is joining Stripe as a founding partner of its new carbon removal initiative.

Stripe, a technology company that builds economic infrastructure for the internet, has developed a tool, Stripe Climate, which lets businesses partner with them to battle climate change. As 90% of the goods we buy, eat, wear, and consume are shipped across the sea, shipping is a significant part of this problem. In fact, if the shipping industry were a country, it would be the world’s sixth largest polluter of greenhouse gases. Left unaddressed, emissions from the shipping industry will increase 4x over the next 30 years.

That’s why, through the partnership with Stripe, Flexport is committing a portion of its revenue to support next-generation carbon removal technologies for initiatives selected by Stripe.
These projects represent permanent and direct carbon removal from the atmosphere.

This effort is critical to capping global temperature increases to 1.5°C over pre-industrial levels. But technologies that can enable that have been significantly underfunded. The program aims to increase demand for these kinds of advancements, leading to more investment—thereby helping to accelerate carbon removal. Doing so can then potentially help lower costs and create the scale necessary for greater impact.

It's a goal that aligns with Flexport’s commitment to drive environmental sustainability to help offset the emissions caused by world shipping. But today’s climate challenges are complex, and no single organization can solve them. By partnering with organizations like Stripe that have a shared passion to effect change, network effects can be unlocked—as can the ability to make global trade sustainable.

Our mission is to make global trade easy for everyone. And, Flexport.org is built on the belief that the combination of technology, infrastructure, and expertise will not only accomplish that goal, but can even uncover new solutions to humanitarian and environmental issues. We see the same potential for impact in Stripe's thesis of using technology and infrastructure to drive economic change. We hope others will join us in this critical work.

To learn more about how to join this important climate partnership, visit Stripe Climate.