Western Union Business Solutions Launches Green Hedging Initiative in Partnership with Gold Standard

  • Payments
  • 25.11.2021 12:50 pm

Collaboration will enable Western Union Business Solutions’ customers to support a range of initiatives with certified carbon credits, from renewable energy to clean water access, as part of their hedging strategy

Western Union Business Solutions, the payments arm of The Western Union Company (NYSE: WU) a global leader in cross-border, cross-currency money movement and payments, has partnered with climate and sustainability pioneer Gold Standard to provide a Green Hedging offering for all types of organisations. The partnership will enable customers of Western Union Business Solutions to financially support sustainable initiatives as part of their hedging strategy, empowering them to make a positive global impact with ease.

Available to new and existing customers, the offering will enable businesses to select from a range of Gold Standard-certified climate and sustainability initiatives, supporting chosen projects at a cost of just 0.1% in addition to the notional trading amount. Project categories range from community-based energy efficiency and clean water access, land use activities and nature-based solutions to renewable energy and waste management. Western Union Business Solutions will then match this fee – contributing a total of 0.2% to the cause – and donating it in full in the customer’s name.

Gold Standard’s projects have seen over 173 million tonnes of CO2 reduced worldwide to date. Using customised safeguards, requirements, and methodologies to measure and verify impact, its experts will work with Western Union Business Solutions to provide participating customers with insight on the projects they have supported.

Alex Lawson, Regional Director of Hedging – UK and Europe at Western Union Business Solutions, commented: “We are excited to bring our customers this opportunity to make a positive impact in such a simple way. By partnering with Gold Standard, which embodies best practice for climate and sustainable development initiatives, customers can be confident in the integrity of every green investment made. It makes complete sense to leverage a planned hedging transaction to also drive genuine change and we at Western Union Business Solutions remain committed to our own sustainability vision, which is why we promise to match every penny paid by our customers for this cause.”

With more than $25 billion in shared value already created for climate action and sustainable development, Gold Standard initiatives are designed to quantify, verify, certify, and maximise progress towards the UN’s Paris Climate Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals. This means that customers partaking in the Green Hedging project know that their contribution is creating a real impact.

Margaret Kim, CEO of Gold Standard, said: “We are delighted to partner with Western Union Business Solutions in launching this initiative. It is promising to see the financial system being channelled to deliver positive impact – something which could be echoed further across the industry. By making the process simple for customers, Western Union Business Solutions’ offering removes barriers to meaningful action. By participating in this initiative, even SMEs can make a measurable difference to the world we live in.”

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