SCOTCH & SODA AND KLARNA LAUNCH GLOBAL CAMPAIGN WITH TREES FOR ALL TO SUPPORT GLOBAL REFORESTATION EFFORTS ON BEHALF OF CONSUMERS WORLDWIDE

Scotch & Soda and Klarna commit to planting 10,000 trees in Costa Rica and Ghana to kick off the brand’s long-term partnership with Trees for All

AMSTERDAM, June 21, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- In honour of World Rainforest Day, Klarna, the leading global payments provider, retail bank, and shopping service, is joining Amsterdam-based fashion brand Scotch & Soda to kick off and support the launch of the brand’s long-term partnership with Trees for All. Trees for All is a global scope foundation carrying out reforestation projects in Central and South America, Africa and Asia as well as in the Netherlands for more than 20 years.

Scotch & Soda and Klarna have committed to planting 10,000 trees across two initiatives in the Carara National Park in Costa Rica and the Bongo District of Ghana in West Africa. Starting today, with every first-time purchase made with Klarna on scotch-soda.com, a tree will be planted on behalf of each customer, certified by Trees for All.

Stéphane Jaspar, CMO of Scotch & Soda, commented: “We are very excited that Klarna is teaming up with us to kick off our long-term initiative to support the Trees for All foundation.  We are looking forward to helping restore local ecosystems on behalf of our customers starting today. It is a very easy way for the Scotch & Soda community to do good and contribute to reforestation efforts in well-defined areas that need it the most.”

David Sandström, CMO of Klarna, commented: “Facilitating innovation and change to make a positive impact on the world is a core element of Klarna’s culture and, as a global brand and business, we have a responsibility to tackle some of the most pressing sustainability challenges. Through this campaign with Scotch & Soda and Trees for All, we encourage and enable customers to take action with an individual step that collectively contributes to reducing and preventing deforestation around the world.”

Of the 10,000 trees committed, 5,000 trees will be dedicated to restoration efforts in the ecological corridor of Costa Rica's Carara National Park. The park is one of the most biodiverse nature reserves in Central America, but due to large-scale deforestation, many of its plants and animal species have become scarce. Trees for All aims to restore the cloud forests in the Turrubares Mountains.

Scotch & Soda and Klarna will also contribute 5,000 trees to the Bongo District of Ghana, one of the country’s driest areas. The area is home to a significant water source that farmers and surrounding villages depend on for drinking water and irrigating the land – the reservoir of the Vea Dam, into which the Yarigatanga River flows. Over the next three years, Trees for All will reforest 50 kilometres of eroded riverbanks, establish 150 hectares of agroforestry, plant native and fruit trees, and train over 1,500 farmers in forest protection and sustainable land-use techniques to ensure long-term management of the area.

Simone Groenendijk, Director of Trees for All, commented: “Trees are one of Earth’s most precious resources supporting our ecosystem and forming our rainforests, which are home to half of the world’s plant and animal species, essential to maintaining a stable climate and a vital water source. We are very happy to have Scotch & Soda and Klarna help us in accomplishing our mission to plant more trees worldwide and restore degraded forests.”

This joint reforestation initiative celebrates the partnership between Klarna and Scotch & Soda, which was launched in October 2020. Klarna’s flexible payment methods are now available on scotch-soda.com across over 11 markets, including Germany, Sweden, UK, and the US. The campaign also follows the launch of Klarna’s global GiveOne.com platform earlier this year. As part of the initiative, Klarna has launched carbon footprint insights for all consumers using the Klarna app and committed 1% of all funding rounds to initiatives supporting the planet.