Exclusive: Debit card rolls out for shoppers to track and tackle their environmental footprint

A new debit card which tracks the carbon footprint of every purchase has rolled out to consumers today, as it looks to tap into a surge in demand for sustainable financial products.

Ekko, led by Metro Bank and HSBC alumnus Oli Cook, allows users to gauge the impact of every tap of the card using data drawn from the supply chain.

Cook hatched the idea for the firm while mulling the carbon footprint of a pint with friends, and he says the card will now allow shoppers to start making a tangible difference in how they live their everyday lives.

“We care about climate change and we wanted to do more about it,” he told City A.M.

“But we were struggling to to do our bit – we do our recycling, we reduce our driving, and we do all those things, but we didn’t really know what our own impact was. That was quite demotivating.”

He said the new Ekko card now remedies that by allowing users to win back rewards to tackle climate change and keep track of their impact via an app. 

For every five taps of the card, one of Ekko’s partner organisations removes a bottle from the ocean, and for every 50 taps a tree is planted.

“We’re enabling our customers to make a positive change and this is the first step as we continue to make saving the planet easier for customers and soon businesses,” Cook said.

The new card comes as demand for sustainable finance products swells with 60 per cent of consumers now demanding higher sustainability in financial products, according to a report by consultancy firm PA.