Credit card limits purchases based on your carbon footprint
The card will be available sometime this summer.
This summer, you'll be able to limit your credit card transactions based on the amount of carbon emissions generated by the products you buy.
Created Doconomy, a Swedish financial tech company, the DO card comes with a smartphone app that tracks the carbon emissions related to transactions made with the card. Users set their limit, and once it has been reached, the card cannot be used.
There are two versions: The regular card, which tracks daily emissions and the black version, which invites users to set a carbon emissions limit for the year.
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If the card is used after the limit has been reached, the transaction will be denied.
“We realized that putting a limit that blocks your ability to complete the transaction is radical . . . but it’s the clearest way to illustrate the severity of the situation we’re in,” Johan Pihl, one of the founders of Doconomy, told Fast Company.
“We need to address how our consumption is impacting our planet.”
Doconomy will provide users with UN-backed methods of offsetting their carbon footprint, and users will be able to collect refunds from stores affiliated with DO, based on the carbon impact of their purchases.
“This is a very educational effort more than anything else,” Doconomy co-founder Mathias Wikström told Fast Company.
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“I mean, people will react to it like, ‘Oh, so you want me to stop spending?’ No, not necessarily. I want you to start understanding.”
The card is being launched in collaboration with the UN Climate Change Secretariat and Mastercard and is expected to be available sometime this summer.