Barclaycard Launches Breathe

Barclaycard launched it's much talked about 'Breathe' credit card this week. They have committed to donating half their profits generated by the card to climate change solutions The launch follows a series of high profile campaigns by some of the leading financial institutions looking to boost their 'green credentials'. Many of these initiatives have been openly criticised as 'jumping on the green band wagon' but is this really a bad thing?

Sure, profits are generated by people building a balance on their credit cards which they pay interest on and those who pay their balance every month will not be making the green contribution but as we all know, credit card companies are ALL very profitable and the more there is available to address climate change the better. After all it's usually the consumer who ends up paying for solutions - either themselves or through additional taxation and in a funny way they still are using this card but they could very easily use a different credit card which did nothing towards helping climate change.

It may not be the cheapest credit card to run (currently charging 14.9% on purchases) and even if it is using climate change as it's hook to lure consumers it's still a great idea and means that inadvertently you're still doing your bit.