Miami, FL – July 2, 2024 – Visa, a global leader in digital payments, published its 2023 Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability (CR&S) Report, providing an update on its fiscal year 2023 (October 1, 2022 – September 30, 2023) progress across innovative solutions and commitments to empower employees, communities and the planet to thrive. Visa’s role as an enabler of commerce across more than 200 countries and territories has enabled the company to further its purpose to uplift everyone, everywhere by being the best way to pay and be paid.
“At Visa, we strive to generate a positive impact in our society, helping to create more inclusive economies and a thriving planet,” said Carlos Corominas, head of Inclusive Impact and Sustainability for Visa in Latin America and the Caribbean. “We are proud to continue working with clients, partners and other stakeholders to advance digital equity and economic empowerment for individuals and businesses throughout the world.“
Visa’s CR&S work focuses on five priority areas: empowering people, communities and economies; enabling trusted commerce and protecting customers; investing in its people; protecting the planet; and operating responsibly. Highlights from the 2023 CR&S report in each of the five priority areas include:
Empowering people, communities and economies
Visa reinforced its commitment to providing individuals, households and businesses with access to digital payments and other resources that can help improve their economic livelihoods, businesses and communities. At the end of 2023, Visa had digitally enabled nearly 67 million small and micro businesses (SMBs) globally – of which an estimated 23 million are led by women – exceeding its 50 million goal set in 2020.
In Latin America and the Caribbean, some of the projects included:
- The expansion of Enko, a mobile business development platform, in Peru to continue promoting Peruvian and Venezuelan businesses participating in the World Council of Credit Unions Economic Inclusion Project’s entrepreneurship development programs.
- The continued partnership with Elas Prosperam in Brazil to help Black women entrepreneurs and, as a result of its success, a new partnership with CAIXA to launch the CAIXA Visa Women Entrepreneurs Challenge, which provided training, mentorship and seed capital to entrepreneurs in underserved communities.
- The expansion of the She's Next Grant Program, creating greater access to funding and education for women-owned small businesses around the world, including in Chile and the Dominican Republic.
Enabling trusted commerce and protecting customers
Visa continued to invest in new capabilities and work with clients to help secure the payments environment and improve the security, integrity and resiliency of its network. Over the past five years, Visa invested more than USD $11 billion in technology to reduce fraud and enhance cybersecurity, such as AI-enabled capabilities to detect and prevent attempted fraud. In 2023, Visa prevented an estimated USD $40 billion in fraud-related losses.
Investing in its people
Visa upheld its commitment to invest in its people and foster a diverse and inclusive workplace, with its efforts including a focus on providing opportunities for growth and development and comprehensive rewards and benefits. In 2023, Visa maintained global pay equity among women and men employees, and Visa University delivered more than 400,000 hours of learning to 96% of Visa’s employees globally.
Protecting the planet
Visa continued working to minimize the environmental footprint of its operations, empower sustainable commerce and support the global transition to a low-carbon economy. The company achieved a 24% reduction in scopes 1 & 2 GHG emissions since fiscal year 2020, tracking toward its goal to reach net-zero emissions by 2040, and maintained 100% renewable electricity across offices and data centers.
Some of the efforts in Latin America and the Caribbean highlighted in the report include the following:
- As part of the company’s efforts to reduce emissions and support the growth of small and medium enterprises by digitizing mass transit, in Costa Rica more than 3.8 million trips on public buses and trains have been made using Visa as of December 2023.
- In Colombia, a Visa branded debit card from Banco de Bogotá allows consumers to support the reforestation and restoration of the Amazon with their purchases.
- Visa’s carbon offsets portfolio to mitigate residual GHG emissions includes a reforestation project in Uruguay.
Operating responsibly
Visa worked to maintain the trust of its stakeholders and its commitment to abiding by the highest standards of integrity, transparency and accountability. In 2023, Visa was named one of the World's Most Ethical Companies by Ethisphere for a 12th consecutive year and maintained a 100% score on the CPA–Zicklin Index of Corporate Political Disclosure and Accountability.
To learn more about Visa’s progress in each of the focus areas, visit the 2023 Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability Report.
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