Barclaycard Business carbon-offset corporate charge card

Barclaycard Business has announced the launch of a carbon-offset corporate charge card that will enable customers to offset carbon emissions associated with air travel.

The card is the first commercial card in the world that facilitates the offset of a company’s air travel. By tracking a company’s spend in this area, Barclaycard Business Sustain enables corporate customers to develop a clearer picture of the carbon footprint caused by their air travel, and Barclaycard Business are then able to work with their customers to help offset their carbon emissions. The card also encourages a company’s employees to think about - and do something about - the impact their business travel has on the environment.

Denise Leleux, Commercial Cards Director of Barclaycard Business, said: “The environmental impact of business travel is a major issue for our corporate customers. Many of them are global companies for whom a significant amount of international air travel is simply unavoidable. Now, for the first time, they can have access to a corporate charge card that will provide companies - and their employees - with the opportunity to take responsibility for their carbon emissions.

“Barclaycard Business Sustain provides a practical solution to help offset carbon emissions on business air travel, but, we have to remember that it doesn’t in itself reduce the carbon emissions. Companies can do that only by travelling less by air.”

Barclaycard Business manages the whole carbon offset process on behalf of its corporate customers by providing them with commission-free access to the Certified Emission Reduction Market via Barclays Capital’s Emissions Trading Desk – the largest in Europe. Barclays Capital purchases Certified Emissions Reductions (CERs) on behalf of the customer at zero commission - thus allowing the maximum amount of carbon to be offset - and then arranges for the CERs to be cancelled, effectively ensuring that the certificates are non-tradable in the future. As a result, the customer receives cancelled CER certificates, and the knowledge that the environmental impact of their business travel has been offset.

The launch of Barclaycard Business Sustain follows the introduction by Barclaycard Business of a similar card in partnership with Deloitte, the global consultancy firm. The Deloitte card was introduced in May 2007, where it was met with tremendous enthusiasm amongst employees and where it has already resulted in significant benefits in terms of carbon offset.