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Mastercard
“It is no longer sustainable to stay in this business without becoming sustainable. Guests might not choose your hotel based on sustainability, but they will choose to not come back,” says Omer Acar, CEO of luxury hotel chains Accor’s Raffles and Fairmont.
Mastercard’s Chief Sustainability Officer Ellen Jackowski chatted with Acar at the Global Inclusive Growth Summit hosted by the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth in Washington, DC. Read or listen to their conversation about how demand for sustainable tourism is growing, why it makes business sense, and how it can benefit local communities.
It is hard to measure our effects on the environment, but one tool that helps us map potential impactful changes is the Sustainable Consumption Index developed by Mastercard and Doconomy. The index uses data-driven insights to help individuals and decision-makers in business and government assess and implement carbon emission reduction efforts. Decision-makers could use the Sustainable Consumption Index’s models to gain a more holistic view of the emissions impact of consumers’ purchasing decisions, enabling them to maximize impact when designing products and policies that support and incentivize shifts toward more sustainable choices.
The urban mobility revolution is here, giving people more options to navigate cities, which is why Mastercard has launched a new center for mobility collaboration and innovation in Amsterdam. The center will serve as a co-creation hub for transit authorities and industry partners to convene, engage with new technologies, enable frictionless rider journeys, and reduce transport operator costs while optimizing payments across the ecosystem. Learn more about how to get involved to shape the future of urban mobility.
Small businesses with strong environmental practices may find it easier to attract investment and new talents – and to acquire and retain clients. Mastercard’s latest white paper, “SMEs and sustainability: Identifying challenges, opportunities, and solutions,” explores the challenges that SMEs across Europe face when it comes to engaging in sustainable business practices. It also identifies the solutions that Mastercard and financial institutions can offer to support small businesses’ evolving needs and to help them navigate the transition to a low-carbon economy.
Despite fluctuating exchange rates and varying levels of affordability, consumer desire to travel remains stronger than ever, according to the Mastercard Economics Institute’s "Travel Trends 2024.” The global report provides comprehensive insights into the evolving landscape of the travel industry across 74 markets, revealing trends like extending trips, prioritizing meaningful experiences, and the remarkable comeback of cruising. To learn more about the consumer demand fueling a strong tourism season ahead, see the full report here.
The Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth and data.org have launched the Artificial Intelligence to Accelerate Inclusion Challenge, a global call for AI solutions to accelerate inclusion and economic empowerment. The AI2AI Challenge will focus on inclusive growth, ensuring that the benefits of this rapidly advancing data technology extend to all segments of society. Awardees will receive grant funding to develop and scale their solutions, gain access to technical expertise and mentorship from Mastercard and data.org teams, and have opportunities with select Mastercard’s resources and programs to further support their approaches.
To enable more people to join the digital economy, an ecosystem of public and private sector partners is critical. That’s why Mastercard and the African Development Bank Group have launched the Mobilizing Access to the Digital Economy (MADE) Alliance: Africa to extend digital access to critical services to 100 million individuals and businesses in Africa over the next 10 years, with an initial focus on supporting the agricultural sector and women. The announcement was made on the sidelines of the US-Africa Business Forum hosted by the US Chamber of Commerce.
Public transportation systems act like arteries carrying people from home to work, hospitals, schools, banks, and grocery stores. But not all communities have access to public transportation, leaving residents reliant on private vehicles or struggling to find transit. The lack of access to public transit deepens socioeconomic divides, limits access to environmentally sustainable transportation, and cuts off connection to essential services. Read Mastercard’s latest research on the impact areas with limited availability of public transportation have, and how to combat them.