Moving Toward a Lower Carbon Footprint in the Finance Industry

If the past few years have taught us anything, it’s to be grateful for what we have and to care for the things and people that matter to us the most. COVID brought to our attention the need to reset our priorities and take stock of what is truly worthy of our time, efforts, and affections. 

In 2022, we can be grateful that the pandemic seems to be behind us for the most part, although it has altered us and shifted our worldview permanently. We’ve seen firsthand the fragility of our own existence. Now that the COVID is not such a threat, that fact of our fragility is no less true and there are still things that threaten our entire global population. 

Of course, one of the most pressing issues for many years has been that of climate change and the need for a major shift toward sustainability. Much like COVID, this issue affects every individual and every industry, including that of finance. 

In the past 5 years, 85% of consumers have made changes to their purchasing habits to move toward more sustainable companies and a smaller carbon footprint for themselves. However, many of us may not consider that even the act of these purchases can contribute to CO2 emissions. 

In fact, there are billions of purchases and credit card transactions every single day. These, along with thousands of new credit organizations, each result in carbon emissions and are a large part of the problem for the environment. 

Fortunately, the majority of executives in the financial industry are taking note of this issue and seeing it as a priority to tackle over the next few years. They’re aware that consumers want clean options in all of their business dealings and they are aware of their responsibility to make major moves toward “net zero” within their organizations. 

One of the most significant efforts these companies can make is to transfer their operations to the cloud. Cloud computing has the potential to save more than 629 million metric tons of CO2 within the span of three years. It’s a sustainable option for the financial industry and can benefit finance organizations as well as the consumers they serve.