Prepaid cards are now working as a tool to get one step closer to a net-zero proposition and commit to a more sustainable future

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With the rising issue of depletion of the ozone layer, efforts are taken by various organizations to bring products that help to reduce carbon emissions, thereby protecting the environment. Not only is the government playing a significant part in this, but fintech companies are also making an effort for a better planet. For instance,

CarbonPay. an environment-friendly fintech platform, announced to launch CarbonPay Business Ctrl, its corporate prepaid card offering, into the market of the United States and the United Kingdom. The company entered the market with an initiative, i.e., to bring a change in the climate, and therefore, the payment cards offered by CarbonPay help to offset their carbon footprint with every transaction. Moreover, with this new product, CarbonPay offsets 1kg of CO2 at no extra cost for every £1 / US$1.50 spent by the consumer.

This is particularly beneficial for companies if they want to offer CarbonPay Business Ctrl to their customers since the simple and transparent pricing structure helps any company to scale up the business. Now, businesses can add as many people as needed by paying £5 / US$5 a month per cardholder. 

All the companies that will be offering their customers CarbonPay Business Ctrl, will be entering into a partnership with the Sustainability-as-a-Service platform called ecolytiq. This platform, specifically, helps to track the carbon footprint of every purchase made. Thus, this smart data-led decision will enable the companies to fully understand the environmental impact of their spending behavior and help take action likewise. Through its range of physical cards, lodge cards, and virtual cards, CarbonPay is capturing the market with its unique proposition of transiting business towards sustainable financial goals. Furthermore, CarbonPay is planning to debut its business charge card and Personal card at the end of 2022.

In order to reduce emissions on behalf of its clients, CarbonPay partnered with two expert climate action organizations, namely, ClimateCare, and SeaTrees. These organizations finance, develop, and manage diverse sustainability projects. Additionally, CarbonPay also teamed up with Stripe Climate, which contributes funds from CarbonPay to frontier technologies that help remove carbon from the atmosphere.

Similarly, governments are also actively participating in the distribution of prepaid cards, facilitating the reduction of carbon emissions in the country. This is an initiative by the city of Chicago to make available US$12.5 million for the prepaid gas and public transit cards with the rising petrol prices globally.

Notably, this is one of the governments’ plans to eradicate poverty from the state, thereby boosting the CTA (Chicago Transit Authority) ridership recovering transit system. Apart from free gas giveaways, the plan also includes gas cards worth US$150 each for nearly 50,000 drivers and transit cards worth US$50 each for around 100,000 travelers in the state.

These gas and transit cards will be available to the residents as they apply for the cards, which will be distributed via a lottery system. Around three-quarters of the transit, cards are reserved for the residents in low-income neighborhoods who mostly use the CTA, and the rest are distributed throughout the city. Since the areas on the South and West sides saw a dipping in ridership during the pandemic, where public transit is the only mode of transport, the government took this initiative to boost travel in the country. 

Therefore, these prepaid gas cards are targeted to provide relief to the residents with the rising gas prices. Since this initiative is against environmental efforts to promote sustainability, the government partnered up with the CTA in order to provide those transit riders relief at the same time, an initiative in line with sustainability.

To know more and gain a deeper understanding of the prepaid card market in the United States, click here.