Carbon Offsets Via Credit Card Loyalty Program

The Commonwealth Bank is offering carbon offsets via its credit card loyalty scheme. The only catch is that the printed booklet sent out with the offer will be using paper and energy to produce and transport.

Owen Eaton, General Manager, Retail Sales and Service, for the Commonwealth Bank wrote to Commonwealth Awards customers in July 2007 saying "Spring is a time to be green". As well as air travel and toasters, carbon emissions are now offered for the award points earned by credit card customers.

Commonwealth Bank is offering offsets from Neco:

Neco is a market leader in the provision of eco and sustainability products. We are also registered under the NSW Greenhouse Gas Abatement Scheme, which means that we can create, broker and sell clean air certificates to organisations looking to reduce their environmental footprint.

We offer a range of business services developed to cater for the specific needs of a variety of clients and industry sectors. ...

From: Doing Business with Neco, Neco, 2007

The Bank is offering:

Quantity	Type
Tonnes	Forest and Revegitation		Renewable Energy
	Value	Points	Value	Points
3	$60	9,400	$150	22,600
4	$80	12,400	$200	30,100
14	$280	41,500	$700	101,800

The Bank sent out a one page letter and 35 page booklet with the offer. That is a significant amount of paper consumed and energy used in transporting the booklet to customers. Unless enough customers take up the offer, the result will be be a net deficit fro the environment, not a gain.