Turning aspiration into impact

Mastercard details how it’s activating its network, services, products and partnerships to drive the company’s commitment to doing well by doing good in its 2023 Environmental, Social and Governance Report published today. The report outlines progress toward social impact goals to support People, Prosperity and our Planet, as well as continued work beyond outlined milestones. Underscored by strong governance principles, the company’s ESG strategy and efforts directly support business success.

A year of impact 

Select progress and efforts in 2023 include:

Empowering people to reach their full potential

• Increased the global median pay for female employees to 4% of the median pay for male employees, up 1.7% from 2022; women at Mastercard continue to earn $1 for every $1 men earn.
• Invested more than $511 million in Black communities in the U.S. since launching our In Solidarity initiative in 2020, exceeding our goal two years early while continuing our efforts.
• Educated 8 million girls through our Girls4TechTM curriculum since the program’s launch in 2014, exceeding our goal two years early while continuing our efforts.

Fostering prosperity around the world

• Working with our partners, connected more than 870 million people to the digital economy, approaching our goal of 1 billion by 2025; and 48 million small businesses, approaching our goal of 50 million by 2025.
• Provided 37 million women entrepreneurs with solutions that can help them grow their businesses, surpassing our goal of 25 million; we will continue to focus on supporting women entrepreneurs through our varied programs.
• Reached 12 million micro and small businesses via our Mastercard Strive initiative .
• Registered 5 million users on the Community Pass

Preserving the planet for future generations

• Continued to see signs of decoupling emissions from corporate growth, with a 1% year-over-year decrease in emissions versus 13% growth in net revenue.
• Reduced Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 48%, and Scope 3 emissions by 40% in 2023, compared to our 2016 base year; with 91% of our suppliers reporting to CDP on Scope 3 emissions. We remain on target to achieve the short-term milestones in 2025.
• Announced we are accelerating efforts to eliminate first-use, PVC plastics from payment cards on our network by 2028.

At Mastercard, we’re powering economies and empowering people, building a sustainable world where everyone prospers. Environmental, social and governance (ESG) matters are core to our business strategy and fundamental for driving long-term value for our stockholders. We leverage our employees, technology, resources, partnerships and expertise to drive positive, lasting impact while at the same time creating markets for the future.

Mastercard’s 2023 ESG Report is available online.