Bank of America has teamed with Brighter Planet to offer a credit card that helps customers reduce their contribution to climate change and invest in the development of renewable energy projects. The Brighter Planet Visa credit card enables customers to earn one EarthSmart point for every dollar spent on purchases. The points earned are used to build community-based renewable energy projects across the U.S. Bank of America estimates that for every 1,000 points earned, one ton of carbon dioxide will be offset.
The rewards program features include:
– spend $1 in retail purchases and earn one EarthSmart point,
– for every two base points earned through December 2008, Bank of America will make a matching contribution of one additional point,
– earn 1,000 bonus points after the first card use,
– earn an additional 1,000 bonus points after signing up for paperless statements, and
– through Brighter Planet's Web site, cardholders can monitor clean energy projects funded from their card use and track their footprint reduction progress from use of the card.
Brighter Planet says that its partnership with carbon offset provider NativeEnergy will ensure that only projects resulting in emission reductions beyond business-as-usual activities will be included in the program.
