Supporting PayPal to Set Ambitious SBTs to Enable its Net Zero Goal

Objectives

Achieving climate stability is critical to PayPal’s mission of financial health and inclusion for all people. According to their latest materiality assessment, climate change mitigation is among the top ESG priorities for PayPal and its external stakeholders. In 2019, the company took steps towards managing its own emissions and set a goal to power its data centers with 100% renewable energy by 2023. Additionally, to advance on its overall climate mitigation strategy, PayPal pledged to develop ambitious science-based targets (SBTs) in line with the objective of limitingtemperature rise to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius. SBTs represent a robust commitment to profoundly reduce the climate-related impact of PayPal’s operations and value chain activities.

Project

Anthesis guided PayPal through the entire science-based target development journey from creating a complete inventory of its value chain baseline emissions, internal stakeholder engagement, emission reduction identification and strategy, through to SBTi validation.

Services

• Provided engagement and education of internal working groups and leaders.
• Conducted value chain screening and baseline emissions inventory.
• Modelled emissions pathways and proposed reduction strategies, including plans to update the inventory in subsequent years.
• Prepared summaries, data visualization models, and communication support for internal engagement.
• Supported the Science-Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) submission and target validation process.
• Continuing to provide support in the development and implementation of PayPal’s vendor engagement program and monitoring annual progress against set targets.

Impacts

PayPal has signaled a deep commitment to mitigating its climate impacts by setting ambitious SBTs aligned with a 1.5°C reduction pathway positioning the organisation as a climate leader in the financial services sector. From a 2019 base year, PayPal commits to:

• Reducing its Scope 1&2 emissions by 25% by 2025
• Reducing its Scope 3 emissions from fuel and energy-related activities (FERA) by 25% by 2025.
• 75% of its suppliers by spend covering purchased goods and services, capital goods, business travel, upstream transportation and distribution will have science-based targets by 2025.

In addition to these SBTs, PayPal has further augmented its commitment by pledging to achieve net zero emissions before 2040.