New GE Credit Card Offers Carbon Offsets as Reward
By Justin McHenry
GE Money today launched a credit card with a unique reward—the ability to offset your greenhouse gas emissions and fight global warming. The GE Money Earth Rewards Platinum MasterCard acts like a normal cash back credit card, giving one percent of your credit card spending back. However, instead of that one percent going to you, it pays for carbon offsets. In short, that means the money goes toward projects meant to reduce greenhouse gases, which cause global warming. (The card also offers the option for you to take a half percent in cash back and a half percent in offsets, versus the full one percent going toward offsets.)
Carbon offsets are used to fund projects such as tree planting, subsidizing of alternative energy projects like wind farms, capturing and burning methane from landfills, and other activities generally thought to reduce, or offset, humans’ creation of greenhouse gas.
The Earth Rewards credit card will save up cardholders’ refunds throughout the year and pay them out for the greenhouse emissions offsets each year on Earth Day, which is April 22.
In keeping with the environmental theme of the Earth Rewards MasterCard, there will be no paper applications for the credit card; only applications made by phone or via the Internet will be allowed. Interested cardholders can apply online at myearthrewards.com.
The GE Money Earth Rewards MasterCard has no annual fee and currently offers interest rates of either 12.99%, 15.99% or 18.99%, depending on your credit history.
