RATING
Positive
SECTOR
Financial Service Activities
Chief Sustainability Officer
T: N/A
E-mail: N/A
Stock Exchange and Ticker
NYSE – V
Website
Contact
T: +1 650 432 3200
E.mail: sustainability@visa.com
Listing
- Global RepTrak 100 2022, Reputation Institute
- U.S. 500 2022, Brand Finance
- #15 Training Top 100 2022, Training Magazine
- Global 2000 World’s Best Employers 2021, Forbes
- #14 Companies With Best Diversity and Inclusion numbers (Fortune, 2021)
Awards
- Sustainalytics, 17.0, Low Risk
- CDP, Climate Change – A
- Dow Jones Sustainability North America Index 2021, S&P Global
- FTSE4Good Index 2021, FTSE Russell
- 2022 America’s Most JUST Companies 2022, JUST Capital
- World’s Most Ethical Companies 2022, Ethisphere
- Trendsetter 2021, CPA-Zicklin Index
- World’s Most Admired Companies 2022, Fortune
- World’s Most Valuable Global Brands 2021, Brandz
- Inclusion Index (Diversity Best Practices)
- Gender-Equality Index (Bloomberg, 2022)
- Best Places to Work for LGBTQ+ Equality — 100% Corporate Equality Index (Human Rights Campaign, 2022)
- Black Equity Index Inaugural Member (Coqual, 2022)
- 100% on the Disability Equality Index & Best Place to Work for People with Disabilities (Disability Equality Index, 2021)
- Corporate Inclusion Index, 5-Star Rating for Employment and Governance (Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility, 2021)
- Best Employers for Women (Forbes, 2021)
Revenue
$24.105B
Market Capitalisation
$424.11B
Employees
21,500
Content source
Visa Sustainability Report
Evaluation of Visa
In many aspects Visa is leading in sustainability. Thanks to all the awards it has achieved, its approach towards employees and customers company’s conscious efforts are acknowledged. Even though the company could improve the reporting and set more goals, it is on track to meet its targets. Visa has been running on 100% renewable electricity and since 2020 it has started investing in carbon offsetting to reach its net-zero goal. Unfortunately, we could not find any information regarding sustainable materials use and/or circular economy integration and we would advise Visa to address these aspects. This is something Visa should definitely work on, if it was to achieve A rating. Other areas of minor improvements include supplier engagement and sustainability supervision, clearer SDG compliance and targets reporting. Overall rating of Visa is B.
Sustainability Scorecard
Visa Company Activity
Visa Inc. is an American multinational financial services corporation headquartered in California, USA; facilitates electronic funds transfers throughout the world, most commonly through Visa-branded credit cards, debit cards and prepaid cards. Visa does not issue cards, extend credit or set rates and fees for consumers; rather, Visa provides financial institutions with Visa-branded payment products that they then use to offer credit, debit, prepaid and cash-access programs to their customers.
Visa Sustainability Activity - As per company declarations
Visa strives to be an industry leader in addressing the environmental, social and governance (ESG) topics most significant to its role as a payments technology company and to meet and exceed the expectations of its stakeholders of our ESG performance and transparency. To help ensure the digital economy is a safe and convenient place for businesses of all sizes to operate, Visa invests in the network security and the broader ecosystem, including an investment of over $9 billion in fraud protection over the past five years. Another area of focus is enhancing the talent experience for underrepresented groups. Building on Visa’s achievements in sustainable operations — 100% renewable electricity use and carbon neutral operations — the company continues to work toward a more sustainable economy.
Certificate & Labels, Standards and Frameworks
- Science Based Target initiative (SBTi)
- Task Force on ClimateRelated Financial Disclosures (TCFD)
- Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)
- Apex GHG verification
- At the end of 2021, approximately 75% of Visa’s owned or leased square footage achieved or was pending green building certification
- ISO 14001
- Second-Party Opinion Visa Inc. Green Bond Framework by Sustainalytics
Visa in the news: Press Reviews and Social Media
Visa and Mastercard Cut Ties With Pornhub’s Advertising Network
Visa and Mastercard suspend payments for ad purchases on Pornhub and MindGeek amid controversy
Visa and Mastercard to suspend service for TrafficJunky, the main advertising network used on Mindgeek sites, including Pornhub after allegations that the payment processor is culpable for harms done to minors on Pornhub.
Major credit card companies are making it easier to track gun sales
In favor of gun control, Visa Inc. plans to start separately categorizing sales at gun shops. Gun control advocates say it will help better track suspicious surges of gun sales that could be a prelude to a mass shooting.
Visa was accused that its success has come at the expense of merchants who rely on them to process payments. Some have even said the fees imposed by Visa are too high for businesses to survive. Swipe fees collected by Visa and Mastercard reached a staggering $67.6 billion in 2019.
Highlights from Visa Sustainability Report
Achievements
- Multiple equity awards
- 100% renewable energy use
- Carbon offsetting
- Achievements in the social area
Weaknesses and Setbacks
- Does not address recycling and sustainable materials
Targets vs Progress Reported
| Target | Results reported |
|---|---|
| Digitally enable 50 million small and micro businesses (SBMs) by 2023 | - Visa has helped to digitally enable 30.7 million SMBs worldwide so far |
| Visa Foundation launched the Equitable Access Initiative in 2020, a five-year, $200 million strategic commitment to support gender diverse and inclusive SMBs around the world | - Visa Foundation will provide at least $60 million in grants and $140 million in impact investments to organizations at the forefront of economic justice and entrepreneurship |
| Increasing the number of employees from historically underrepresented groups at the vice president level and above in the U.S. by 50% by 20230 | - Asian, Black, Hispanic and ‘Other’ ethnicities make up 41% |
| Increasing the number of historically underrepresented Visa employees in the U.S. by 50% by 2025 | - Asian, Black, Hispanic and ‘Other’ ethnicities make up 63% |
| Net Zero emissions by 2040 | - 46,100MTCO₂e carbon offsets in 2020 and 19,154MTCO₂e in 2021 |
| Maintain carbon neutrality | - 100% renewable electricity use - Reduced GHG emissions by 93% since 2019 - Purchased 3 times more carbon offsets than it emittedin 2020, and almost 5 times more in 2021 (46,100MTCO₂e carbon offsets in 2020 and 19,154MTCO₂e in 2021) |
| Support positive climate action beyond operational footprint by leveraging products, services, network and other resources | - No data reported |
| Obtain the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), BREEAM, Green Mark or equivalent certifications for the design, construction and build-out of our office facilities | - At the end of 2021, approximately 75% of Visa’s owned or leased square footage achieved or was pending green building certification |
