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How a bank card is helping to save the Baltic

Bank of Aland's innovative new biodegradable credit card is helping to make consumers aware of their environmental impact
First published on August 11, 2016

 

Unless you live in the Nordic region, you may not have heard of the Aland Islands, an archipelago in the middle of the Baltic Sea where the people speak Swedish, even though it is a province of Finland. An innovative project launched earlier this year may help to make Aland more widely known, though.

For nearly a century, Bank of Aland has supported the islands' farmers, sailors and fishermen, expanding over the years to serve Finland and Sweden as well. In May, the bank introduced a major environmental initiative aimed at combating the low oxygen levels which the Baltic suffers from - the result of having toxic materials dumped in it for many years - and which are threatening fish stocks. Bank of Aland is now replacing its entire portfolio of bank cards with new, biodegradable cards manufactured from a corn-based polylactic acid matrial​.

But the really novel feature is the Aland Index, which calculates the card owner's carbon footprint based on what they have spent money on. The calculation appears on the customer's monthly bill, along with a number of options for how they can offset these CO2 emissions.

Bank of Aland is hoping the project will drive change on an individual level, encouraging carbon offsetting and helping people to understand their personal environmental impact. At the same time, it has created the Baltic Sea Project to fund and support projects that will help to make the sea healthier. And in the long term, the hope is that the data gleaned from the Index about individual people's environmental impact will drive insights into how behavioral change could affect our world.

The project has also seen the Bank of Aland prove successful at the recent D&AD Impact awards, where the Aland Index won four design categories. It was also listed as one of the '12 innovations that might save the world' in a Swedish national newspaper, and won the Grand Prix award for Corporate Social Responsibility at the Cannes Lions 2017​.

Aland Index was also shortlisted for a Eurobest PR award in the​ Financial Products & Services category.

To find out more about Gemalto's sustainable products, dowload the 2016 Sustainability Report

TAGGED IN innovation; contactless payment; mobile payments; egovernment; financial services; mobile payment; data security; mobile money