Nasdaq Nordic: Nasdaq Acquires Emerging Carbon Removal Market Puro.earth

Expansion of ESG strategy into new marketplace supports sustainability efforts
of Nasdaq's corporate clients 

Stockholm, June 1, 2021 - Nasdaq (Nasdaq: NDAQ) today announced its acquisition
of a majority stake in Puro.earth, a leading marketplace for carbon removal.
Puro.earth is the world's first marketplace to offer industrial carbon removal
instruments that are verifiable and tradable through an open, online platform.
The platform already provides carbon removal services to some of the world's
leading corporations, including Microsoft and SEB. 

The partnership with Puro.earth will scale the marketplace to address a growing
demand for carbon removal by corporations, as well as enable new carbon removal
methodologies as technology evolves. The addition of Puro.earth's marketplace
capabilities to Nasdaq's environmental, social, and governance (ESG)-focused
technologies and workflow solutions gives Nasdaq's corporate clients further
resources to successfully achieve their ESG objectives. Fortum, a leading
European energy company, will remain a minority owner and an important partner
in the venture. 

"The addition of Puro.earth to our growing suite of innovative ESG products and
services extends our strategy into an increasingly important area for our
4,000+ corporate clients worldwide," said Bjørn Sibbern, Executive Vice
President and President of European Markets at Nasdaq. "The partnership with
Puro.earth will provide our global network of corporate clients access to a
unique marketplace for carbon removal and will allow Puro.earth to scale its
platform through the Nasdaq network and technology platform. We look forward to
working together with the Puro.earth and Fortum teams to create a global,
transparent and authenticated market for carbon removal." 

Carbon removal is a process in which CO2 is physically captured from the
atmosphere and stabilized into a durable storage. Carbon removal is expected to
play a critical role in keeping global warming below 1.5C degrees. Puro.earth
maintains a rigorous process to approve and verify its removal methodologies.
Leveraging its robust experience maintaining quality and compliance standards
on both the issuer and supplier side, Nasdaq will work with Puro.earth to
further strengthen the governance around new methodologies by establishing an
external advisory committee with representation from the industry, academia,
buyside and suppliers. 

"This investment and strategic partnership with Nasdaq will enable us to
realize our mission to support the transformation of the world's economy to
reward carbon negative emissions and help our customers reach their ambitious
net-zero goals. So far we have seen the carbon removal industry take small
steps, and with Nasdaq involved we have the potential to make much bigger
strides", said Antti Vihavainen, CEO of Puro.earth. 

Leading Northern European financial services group SEB is committed to
supporting its customers in their sustainable transformation and to limit its
own emissions. 

"To stop global warming, it is not enough to limit emissions, measures are also
needed to remove carbon dioxide from the air," said Joachim Alpen, Co-head of
SEB's division Large Corporates & Financial Institutions. "The market for
carbon removals is still evolving. We appreciate initiatives to create economic
drivers to accelerate carbon removal." 

Puro.earth will remain an independent company and brand following the
investment. Terms of the transaction have not been disclosed. 

With a rich history and experience in navigating the global ESG landscape,
Nasdaq has become an established leader in corporate sustainability. The
company engages with corporate clients, investors, regulators, influencers,
employees and corporates to drive innovation and transparency. To read more
about Nasdaq's broad and deep engagement to sustainability, click here. 

About Nasdaq

Nasdaq (Nasdaq: NDAQ) is a global technology company serving the capital
markets and other industries. Our diverse offering of data, analytics, software
and services enables clients to optimize and execute their business vision with
confidence. To learn more about the company, technology solutions and career
opportunities, visit us on LinkedIn, on Twitter @Nasdaq, or at www.nasdaq.com 

About Fortum

Fortum is a European energy company with activities in more than 40 countries.
We provide our customers with electricity, gas, heating and cooling as well as
smart solutions to improve resource efficiency. Together with our subsidiary
Uniper, we are the third largest producer of CO2-free electricity in Europe.
Close to 20,000 professionals and a combined balance sheet of approximately EUR
60 billion, we have the scale, competence and resources to grow and to drive
the energy transition forward. Fortum's share is listed on Nasdaq Helsinki and
Uniper's share on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. www.fortum.com 

About Puro.earth

Puro.earth is the world's first B2B marketplace, standard and registry focused
solely on carbon removal. Our mission is to mobilize the world's economy to
reward carbon net-negative emissions. We do this by helping voluntary corporate
buyers accelerate carbon dioxide removal at an industrial global scale.
Puro.earth provides carbon removal as a service, through identifying suppliers,
verifying their carbon removals and issuing CO2 Removal Certificates (CORCs),
an integral part of long-term procurement portfolios to fulfill net-zero
pledges. Aiming at climate and economic impact, Puro.earth is driving forward a
market of carbon negative industries, enabling a new revenue stream to
accelerate their growth. Visit us at https://puro.earth or on LinkedIn
Puro.earth CO2 Removal Marketplace and Twitter @PuroCO2Removal 

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements, within the meaning of
the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements with
respect to the investment by Nasdaq in Matter and the benefits of the
transaction, and statements about Nasdaq and its products and offerings. We
caution that these statements are not guarantees of future performance. Actual
results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in the
forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve a number of
risks, uncertainties or other factors beyond Nasdaq's control. These factors
include, but are not limited to factors detailed in Nasdaq's annual report on
Form 10-K, and periodic reports filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission. We undertake no obligation to release any revisions to any
forward-looking statements. 



Media contacts

Nasdaq

David Augustsson
[e-mail]
[phone]

Puro.earth

Anna McShane
[e-mail]
[phone] 
[phone]

Fortum

Anne Jalkala
VP, Digital Growth Businesses at Fortum
[e-mail] 
[phone]