ESG Unlocked: How TopCashback Is Turning Data into Decarbonisation

As part of our spotlight ESG Unlocked, we spoke with Katie Sosinski, Finance Supervisor at TopCashback, a global cashback company. From reinvesting ad revenue into green initiatives to launching a 'Green Cashback' category for customers, sustainability at TopCashback is being embedded into both operations and culture.

What were the main drivers for TopCashback acting on sustainability issues?

Sustainability is deeply rooted in our company values. Fair Play is at the heart of everything we do — treating others as you would want to be treated. Our Co-Founder and Chief Executive, Oliver Ragg, is passionate about ensuring this ethos shapes our sustainability approach. We approach every decision by asking is it ethical, sustainable, and the right thing to do.

Over the past 18 months, we’ve focused on measuring and reducing our carbon footprint. Early in the journey, it became clear that the finance team plays a central role in sustainability, especially when it comes to data and reporting — so I’ve found myself at the heart of the action. But it’s not a solo effort. We’re supported by a brilliant group of “Green Champions” from across the business, who help identify opportunities to improve efficiency and embed sustainable thinking into our day-to-day operations.

Just as important is our belief that everyone should have a voice. We want every employee to feel valued and empowered to drive positive change. This sense of ownership and inclusion has been critical to the success of our sustainability initiatives so far.

Carbon reduction has been a key focus — what actions have you taken, and what impact have they had?

Under our Cashback for Good programme, we proactively reinvested advertising revenue into organisations that deliver measurable social and environmental benefits, such as solar energy generation and UK forestry restoration. While this allows us to support broader positive impact beyond our operations, we also recognised the need to get our own house in order by understanding and addressing the carbon impact of our own business activities.

In 2023, we completed our first organisational carbon footprint assessment, with support from BayNel we better understood the data gathering and reporting and calculation process. The biggest challenge in that first year was locating and consolidating data across the business to ensure we maintained high data quality. By the second year, the process became much smoother — we had identified the necessary datasets, and as the owner of the purchase ledger at Top Cashback, we introduced internal changes to streamline data collection and improve overall accuracy.

We’re now at a pivotal point: setting carbon reduction targets. The challenge ahead is finding the right balance — defining a realistic and impactful reduction trajectory that aligns with our business growth and ongoing geographic expansion.

How much interest are you seeing from your customers when it comes to sustainability?

Our members are showing interest, and we aim to make it as easy as possible for them to discover and access sustainable products and services. That’s why we created Green Cashback — a dedicated section on our website that helps customers find and shop with sustainable brands across a wide range of categories, from energy providers to beauty, cosmetics, and clothing.

We use the Ethical Consumer database, alongside our own in-house criteria, to determine which brands qualify for inclusion in the Green Cashback category. This ensures our members feel confident in the sustainability credentials of the businesses they choose to support.

What are the businesses plans for sustainability moving forward?

We’ll continue to focus on our carbon reduction journey — it’s where we have the most significant impact as a business, but also the greatest opportunity to influence change.

Alongside that, under our cashback for good programme, we also donate money to the Staffordshire Community Foundation to support multiple local charities, with an emphasis on charities with an environmental mission.

We are also committed to helping people save their money and improving financial wellbeing. We have a partnership with The Money Charity  which sees the delivery of hundreds of hours of education to school children and vulnerable adults across the country.

We are also the proud sponsors of Staffordshire FA’s Disability League and inaugural sponsors of Stafford Pride. These activities reflect our commitment to fairness and playing a positive role in the community. .

What lessons have you learnt that could help others at the beginning of their sustainability journey?

For companies starting out, I’d say the most important thing is simply to begin. Choose a focus — for us, it was carbon — and start by looking at the data you already have that can help clarify your impacts. Learn from what others are doing and don’t hesitate to get support from organisations like BayNel, who can help simplify and demystify the process. Very early on they were able to support us to define the boundaries of our carbon footprint and identify emissions sources and determine the data sources and process for collection. The key is to start somewhere, and not be afraid to get it wrong — learning as you go is part of the journey.

One of the biggest surprises for us was discovering that the areas we assumed would be the largest contributors to our carbon footprint — like international flights — weren’t. By reviewing our data, we gained valuable insights into both our spend and carbon intensity. It’s helped us re-evaluate some of our business decisions, not just to reduce carbon but also to cut costs.

Ultimately, our journey is still evolving — but every step forward, however small, reinforces our belief that sustainable change is possible when it's grounded in data, driven by values, and shaped by people across the business.