As promised we’ll be looking at some green/ethical credit cards in this post. It can be a minefield trying to figure out which credit card to opt for and whether or not to get an ethical or green credit card. The purpose of this post is not to make that decision for you but to show you what’s out there. You’ll have to think about if they work for you.
Firstly we’ll look at Barclaycard’s Breathe credit card. As the name suggests it is aimed at trying to tackle climate change. In fact the tag line for the credit card is ‘The card that donates 50% of profits to projects that tackle climate change.’ So what does it offer? As the company tells us-
‘50% of net profits after tax (independently reviewed) from Barclaycard Breathe will be donated to Pure, the Clean Planet Trust (Registered Charity No. 1112249), to fund government-approved environmental projects. Minimum donation of £1 million in the first year.’ Alongside this Barclaycard Breathe is involved in other projects throughout the globe. In Great Britain the company is involved in the Solar4schools programme aiming at funding the use of solar power in schools. As we know this is a green form of energy and can help reduce our carbon footprint. In Brazil the project surrounds renewable energy and forest preservation. ‘This project is a power plant that uses sustainably harvested wood as a fuel, replacing electricity from polluting diesel generators. The result of this is that renewable energy is generated for Itacoatiara – an area in the Amazon with a population of around 80,000.
As well as reducing emissions, the project’s main environmental benefit is that it protects an area of forest of around 1,800 square miles – roughly three-times the size of Greater London.’ Sounds good to me……In China Barclaycard Breathe is supporting the Shimenping project which will reduce carbon emissions by around 67,000 tonnes per year: equivalent to the domestic energy emissions (i.e. gas and electricity) of around 12,000 UK homes! As it is clean energy it will also improve respiratory health for local people. Elsewhere in China Barclaycard Breathe are promoting the use of wind turbines. They hope that ‘this will reduce carbon emissions by around 50,000 tonnes per year: equivalent to removing about 17,000 average British cars off the road every year.’
Barclaycard Breathe offers a typical APR of 14.9% with an offer of 0% interest balance transfer for the first six months and a 5.9% purchase rate on public transport, although this excludes Transport for London.
If all this wasn’t enough they are also offering discounts on certain UK holidays such as Centre Parcs (to cut down on holiday travel), Ecotricity (green electricity) and Ecoelectricals to name but a few. Check out the website www.barclaycardbreathe.co.uk for more information.
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Next up we’ll look at the American Express Red credit card. Most of us probably know about the RED programme and we’ll be looking at this further in another post. For now we’ll focus on the credit card…..
Everytime you spend money on the American Express Red credit card it will donate 1% of the total to the Global Fund. The Global Fund helps fight AIDS in Africa. There is no annual fee and the Annual Typical rate is 16.9%.
Alongside the donation to the Global Fund there are other benefits such as REDdeals on boutique hotels, resturants and other fun past times!! You can also earn REDtreats. Worth a peak? If so take a look at their website http://www.americanexpress.com/pes/uk/benefits/red/microsite/features.shtml.
Hope you have found this useful. We’ll be looking at some more green/ethical credit cards soon!
