Klarna, the AI-powered global payments network and shopping assistant, has partnered with Milkywire, an environmental impact platform, to launch a new fund to open to tech and finance companies looking to invest directly in impactful projects to contribute to global biodiversity targets but don’t know where to start.
Building on successful collaborative work supporting biodiversity, people, and climate projects over the past three years, Klarna and Milkywire now plan to open up the Nature Transformation Fund to all companies looking to support transformative environmental change and contribute to global biodiversity targets.
The fund enables companies to invest directly in on-the-ground projects without the overhead of learning how to do so effectively.
Over the past three years, Klarna has committed $13.6million to support 53 environmental initiatives, contributing to several of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, including climate action, life below water, and life on land. The projects it has supported boast many impressive successes including:
- planting 4.9 million saplings of native trees
- enhancing protection for 700,000 hectares of forest in the upper Amazon against illegal extraction
- creating 195 hectares of wildflower-rich grassland and habitats across the UK
- protecting the 70 remaining Javan Rhinos left in the world from extinction thanks to anti-poaching operations
- creating three new protected marine areas in the UK
Closing the biodiversity funding gap
Milkywire will manage the Nature Transformation Fund, while Klarna will remain as a founding partner, committed to its $24.5million pledge for the planet since 2021. Klarna will continue to allocate this pledge to impactful initiatives just like before.
Alexander Farsan, head of climate and environment at Klarna, commented: “Our global economy is embedded in nature, so all companies must help close the biodiversity funding gap.
“We have spent three years investing directly in on-the-ground projects and building extensive knowledge in how to select and manage projects for maximum return on investment. With this new fund, we are making this expertise available to all tech and finance companies looking for a ‘plug-and-play’ route to investing directly in on-the-ground biodiversity projects.”
Jill Raval, nature transformation fund manager at Milkywire, also added: “Tackling biodiversity comes with a myriad of complexities and picking the right projects is extremely important to ensure that both the people and the planet win.
“At Milkywire, we collaborate with leading experts to drive long-term change. Our fund approach allows companies to address global biodiversity challenges in a holistic way, ranging from hands-on restoration to advocacy. With the launch of the Nature Transformation Fund, we are also looking forward to amplifying our impact through collective action.”
