Environmental Sustainability

MasterCard is committed to sustainability by respecting and preserving the environment in our daily activities and in how we work with others. Our efforts involve creating sustainable business practices around the world and giving employees opportunities to practice environmental responsibility.

We are decreasing our overall environmental footprint by focusing on three areas — energy conservation, recycling and pollution control. Recognizing that seemingly small steps can have a large effect, programs at our offices worldwide include:

  • Motion sensors

  • Black and white and double-sided printer defaults

  • Eco-friendly food packaging 

  • Recycling batteries, plastic, cans and glass

  • Rain water harvesting to reduce potable water use

  • Electric car charging stations

We’re proud that our Global Headquarters in Purchase, New York, our Technology Headquarters in St. Louis, Missouri, and our offices in Kansas City, Missouri and Waterloo, Belgium have all achieved LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification. 

We want to work with others who share our commitment to environmental responsibility, so sustainability is a key feature of our Supplier Compliance Program. We've established a supplier sustainability Web site and are working with other companies to share best practices in global supply chain management.

Our focus extends to the many stakeholders in the communities we serve. Working with partners in the private and public sectors, we help provide prepaid and debit cards for payroll and government benefits, saving money and virtually eliminating paper. Walmart, for example, estimates it will save 300,000 pounds of paper each year by replacing payroll checks with MasterCard prepaid cards. Similarly, the U.S. Treasury is replacing paper Social Security checks with electronic payments. We're also partnering with banks in China, Macau, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom to give consumers ways to support environmental causes that matter to them by using their cards.

We continue to educate employees on the measures we can take to protect the environment. Efforts to conserve energy, recycle and reduce pollution go a long way in helping MasterCard diminish its environmental footprint and create a sustainable world today and in the future.