This is the first time that the opportunity to fight climate change has been offered through reward programs.

Ascenda is a global technology company that provides rewards solutions to financial institutions. For example, it has HSBC and Capital One as clients.

As for Patch, it offers a marketplace that allows companies to purchase carbon credits. These credits will be used for projects to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions. This can be characterized by reforestation of forests and decarbonization (carbon dioxide capture and storage).

The ability to exchange rewards currency into carbon credits at scale opens up an enormous new source of funding for the fight against climate change. We’re thrilled to work with the team at Patch who are transforming carbon offsets with a highly effective technology infrastructure. Our partnership puts the power to drive change into the hands of consumers worldwide, who increasingly want to make sustainability a factor in their decisions.

Kyle Armstrong, CEO d'Ascenda

Perhaps more than any other sector, banking and financial services has the power to truly unleash the green consumer—from offsets as a reward and offset subscriptions, to carbon neutral investment funds. That’s why we’re excited to partner with Ascenda to launch the industry’s first global rewards exchange for carbon offsets, enabling billions of consumers to leverage unused points balances to invest in trusted carbon removal projects across the globe.

Brennan Spellacy, CEO de Patch

A carbon credit is also called a credit offset. It was created as part of the Kyoto Protocol agreement in 1997. This is a unit of measurement that is equivalent to one ton of CO2.

This offset credit is sold to a marketplace (such as Patch), who will use it to invest in greenhouse gas reduction projects. For example, a Quebec company, Sonder, is a Patch partner.

In Canada, Patch works with CarbonCure.

The consumer will use his credit card and earn rewards points in his loyalty program.

Through our guides, we’ve shown you that these points can be redeemed for flights, hotel nights or cash back. With this new partnership, the credit cardholder will be able to redeem points for carbon credits.

For example, with 20,000 points, a client could neutralize 10 to 15 tons of CO2. This represents the annual footprint of an average American.

Thanks to the collaboration between Ascenda and Patch, 1.2 billion Visa-related banking customers could benefit from this new exchange opportunity.

Even if only 10% of these customers redeem points for carbon credits, this would offset the emissions of the entire United States for a full year.

This original partnership offers an interesting option for consumers who want to offset their carbon footprint. This is a topic that comes up regularly in the Milesopedia community: we can’t wait to see if Canadian banks and loyalty programs get on board!

It is a new and innovative model for those who want to do something more about climate change.