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Visa Europe has launched a "green" charge card for companies in the Netherlands that will offer carbon offsets based on spending. The Visa Greencard Corporate is the card organization's first such commercial card in the country, a spokesperson for RePay International B.V., the Dutch firm that operates the carbon-offset scheme for Visa, tells CardLine Global. Visa Europe launched a similar card for Dutch consumers in 2004, but the card organization offered no immediate comment Tuesday. In a statement, Visa says it worked with RePay and Dutch acquirer and issuer PaySquare on the card program, under which carbon dioxide emissions that result from services and products purchased with the card "are calculated for each payment." Those emissions are offset by investments in "renewable energy, forestry projects or CO2-reducing technologies," the statement says. "The carbon-offset investments are shared between the cardholder's company and the issuer," the RePay spokesperson says. RePay expects the investments to total 0.4% of card spending during the program's first year, though it was unclear how much that spending would be. RePay anticipates that 50,000 cards will be issued within a year, the spokesperson says. Financial institutions globally have issued payment cards that result in carbon offsets or similar features, but analysts remain skeptical about the environmental benefits of such cards and whether these types of programs represent anything more than a marketing gimmick (CardLine Global, 20 Jan.).
