Thunes deepens its environmental pledge with Handprint
Global cross-border payments company, Thunes, has today expanded an ambitious tree-planting initiative with its partner, Handprint, an Impact-as-a-Service firm.
Thunes pledges to plant one tree for every 5,000 transactions processed on its platform over the next two years with Handprint. Additionally, this initiative will enable Thunes’ customers and partners to make positive environmental changes through payment processing.
Handprint empowers businesses to make a meaningful impact by connecting them to regenerative projects aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These initiatives range from reforestation and coral reef construction to targeted education and biodiversity loss.
Thunes currently supports reforestation efforts in Indonesia, Nigeria, India and Kenya; the vast majority of these projects are for mangrove tree restoration. The company plans to extend its tree-planting initiatives further to additional areas in the regions where it operates.
The company partnered with Handprint in 2022. Since then, Thunes has planted over 125,000 mangrove trees. Depending on local conditions, each mangrove tree will absorb between 180 and 500 kg of CO2 over its 20-year lifespan. Mangrove reforestation supports the SDG 13 for Climate Action, SDG 14 for Life Below Water and SDG 15 for Life on Land.
Thunes’ pledge is a key part of its ‘Turning Transactions into Actions’ ESG programme, which promotes sustainability, responsibility, diversity and equality.
Handprint ensures trees are planted in areas with the most pressing ecological needs. All reforestation efforts are fully traceable and audited using the company’s innovative technology platform. Its technology reduces intermediary costs, helps ensure the reliability of its NGO partners and tracks project fulfilment.
“With our commitment to reforestation and biodiversity, we are making a positive impact on the environment with every transaction. Handprint’s impressive standards and far-reaching work will enable us to deliver an effective sustainability programme. Furthermore, our pledge helps differentiate Thunes as a truly innovative payment partner.”
Peter De Caluwe, Deputy Chairman, Thunes
Dr Simon Schillebeeckx, Chief Vision Officer of Handprint, said: “We are delighted to deepen our partnership with Thunes to help it and its customers play a more meaningful role in regenerative sustainability. All industries, including fintechs, can do more to support nature, improve biodiversity and protect people. Our platform connects an enterprise’s KPIs to specific sustainability initiatives, making it easy for them to make a tangible difference.”
Note to editors:
Mangroves are fundamental to coastal tropical and subtropical ecosystems and home to over 1,500 plant and animal species. With nearly 75% of their carbon stored in their extensive underground root systems and soil, these forests are crucial in mitigating climate change. Mangroves also provide natural buffers, safeguarding coastal communities from the destructive forces of hurricanes and storms.
For media enquiries, please contact:
Headland | E: thunes@headlandconsultancy.com | M: +44 (0)7311 369938 (Flo Holt)
About Thunes:
Thunes is a global payment innovator enabling businesses to move money in real-time and in full transparency. We empower our customers to pay and get paid by anyone, anywhere, and however they prefer, closing the gap between payment systems worldwide. With Thunes, large, medium and small companies can Accept cards, bank transfers and more than 330 alternative payment methods, and Pay over 3 billion mobile wallets and 4 billion bank accounts.
Thunes facilitates payments in more than 80 currencies across 130+ countries, using local payment methods, including 120 mobile wallets like PayPal, M-Pesa and Airtel, for gig economy giants like Uber and Deliveroo, super-apps like Grab and WeChat, IMTOs, Fintechs, PSPs and banks. Headquartered in Singapore, Thunes has a presence in 13 locations, including Barcelona, Beijing, Dubai, London, Manila, Nairobi, Paris, San Francisco and Sao Paulo.
Thunes puts money in motion. For more information, visit: https://www.thunes.com/
About Handprint
Handprint is Asia’s leading Regeneration-as-a-Service platform that enables companies to create a positive impact in a transparent, quantified and automated way, cutting up to 80% of the costs that are otherwise absorbed by intermediaries. Launched in 2020 by leading academics and engineers in the Digital Sustainability space, Handprint has won numerous sustainable business awards, including the 2021 Microsoft Singapore Green Tech Challenge, the 2021 Cities of the Future Urban Innovation Challenge, and the Huawei Spark Ignite 2022 competition in the sustainability category. Hundreds of companies, including e-commerce giant Lazada, leading Payment card technology company Idemia, and global media platform Teads are growing with the planet, using Handprint.
For more information, visit handprint.tech/
