Award-winning biodegradable credit card tackles climate change

Award-winning biodegradable credit card tackles climate change

Finland – The Bank of Aland’s card, which won a Grand Prix award at Cannes 2017, helps users to track their carbon footprint.

Baltic Sea Card by Bank of Aland, Finland

Finland – The Bank of Aland’s card, which won a Grand Prix award at Cannes 2017, helps users to track their carbon footprint.

The Baltic Sea Card, which is made from renewable raw materials including maize, is non-toxic and fully biodegradable. An accompanying digital report enables users to track the carbon footprint of their consumption. The report data is based on the bank’s Aland Index, which applies a unique code to different retailers and cross-references company information with financial data to calculate the carbon footprint of the wider industry and the average carbon footprint of each transaction.

By making users’ transactions more transparent, The Bank of Aland hopes to raise awareness and encourage people to adopt more sustainable consumption habits. The bank has partnered with World Wildlife Fund Finland to enable users to easily donate money to different environmental projects to offset their carbon footprint.

The card won a Grand Prix Cyber Lion at Cannes 2017, which are awarded to stand-out campaigns driven by digital content.

The Big Picture

  • Companies across sectors are helping consumers to adopt more sustainable consumption habits. Read our Whole-system Thinking macrotrend to find out more
  • Consumers are increasingly aware of the negative impact of air pollution on their health and brands are developing products and services to tackle the issue. For more, see our Smog Life series
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