Buy now pay later (BNPL) firm Klarna has launched a range of services aimed to at promoting sustainable shopping.

A new 'conscious shopping; dashboard offers customers products and services which are focused on sustainability. The dashboard spotlights sustainable brands and those using circular services to reduce waste.

The feature is currently available to users in the US and will be rolled out to other markets in the coming months.

The company has also launched a CO2 footprint tracker to analyse the amount of carbon released during the production of an item.

It has also added sustainability certification filters to its search function to highlight products and companies which have been identified as sustainable by third parties including Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS), People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), and Cradle to Cradle.

Klarna said that users are prioritising environmental and sustainable practices when shopping. Around 78 per cent of customers claim a sustainable lifestyle is important to them and around half think it is important to seek out sustainable clothing.

The company added that despite their good intentions, customers find it challenging to make sustainable purchases. Around 80 per cent of customers report it is hard to identify environmentally friendly companies.

Salah Said, head of sustainability at Klarna, commented:"Klarna is dedicated to transforming shopping into a more circular, sustainable experience by facilitating more informed decisions and providing our 150 million consumers with tools to discover more environmentally responsible products.

“With the launch of these new products, including a new conscious shopping dashboard, added sustainability filters in our search and compare tool, and an enhanced CO2e tracker with data for over 122 million products across five product categories, we aim to equip individuals to make choices that align with their values and consider sustainable aspects when shopping.”

Klarna and other BNPL firms which rose to prominence during the Covid-19 pandemic have faced major criticism for promoting irresponsible spending, with Martyn James of dispute resolution service Resolver describing the service to the Guardian in 2020 as "not really that far removed from payday lending."

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