Fintechs Launch Carbon-Aware Payments

Fintechs Pilot Carbon-Aware Payments to Help Consumers Track Emissions in Real Time

New programs embed CO₂ calculators directly into cards and apps, turning everyday purchases into climate transparency tools.

San Francisco, November 19, 2025

A coalition of fintech startups and global payment networks today announced the expansion of pilot programs that embed live carbon-footprint calculators inside digital wallets, prepaid cards, and commercial credit products. By combining transaction data with country-specific emission factors, the services give consumers an instantaneous grams-of-CO₂ read-out every time they tap, swipe, or click—closing a long-standing gap between climate intention and action.

Recent research by The Payments Association shows that inconsistent measurement has stalled decarbonization across the $2.1 trillion digital-payments supply chain. The new pilots adopt the industry’s first harmonized Carbon Emissions Framework, released in October 2024, which aligns greenhouse-gas accounting for Scope 1, 2, and 3 impacts across issuers, processors, and merchants . Early data indicate that cardholders who see purchase-level CO₂ data reduce spending in high-emission categories by 7–12 % within 90 days, a behavioral shift confirmed in separate studies by Mastercard and the Swedish impact fintech Doconomy .

“People already track calories and steps—carbon is the next dashboard,” said Rory Spurway, CEO of CarbonPay, whose business prepaid card offsets 1 kg of CO₂ for every US $1.50 spent and displays the exact footprint of each transaction inside the mobile app. “When the number appears at the moment of purchase, consumers instinctively optimize. We’re turning payments into a climate nudge engine.”

The pilots are rolling out on three continents. In Iceland, telecom-linked fintech Síminn Pay has issued 8,000 virtual commercial cards that pipe authorization data through Nordic processor Enfuce and into Deedster’s climate engine, letting 14,000 business clients export weekly CO₂ reports for statutory ESG filings . Hungary’s OTP Bank has logged more than 600,000 user sessions since adding Cogo’s opt-in carbon tracker to its retail app, the highest engagement rate recorded in Central Europe . Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s Mox Bank and Standard Chartered successfully closed a proof-of-concept in May 2024 that tokenizes both customer deposits and voluntary carbon credits, enabling real-time offset settlement via Mastercard’s Multi-Token Network .

Market pressure is accelerating adoption. Sixty-four percent of global consumers say they prefer banks that offer carbon transparency, according to 2025 Personetics polling, while regulators in the EU, U.K., and California will require Scope 3 disclosure for financial institutions starting in 2026. Venture funding for climate-fintech payments start-ups has reached $4.8 billion year-to-date, PitchBook data show, a 34 % increase over 2024.

“Standardized measurement is no longer a checkbox—it’s a strategic lever,” said Spurway. “Banks that embed carbon metrics now will outrun both regulation and competitors.”

CarbonPay plans to open a wait-list for U.S. consumer cards in Q1 2026 and is in talks with two Top-10 American banks to white-label its API. The company expects to be live with five million cards by the end of next year.

About CarbonPay

CarbonPay is a certified CarbonNeutral® fintech platform that issues payment cards which automatically offset CO₂ and display real-time emissions data. A participant in Visa’s Fast Track program and a member of 1 % for the Planet, CarbonPay integrates ecolytiq analytics to help businesses and consumers measure, understand, and reduce the climate impact of everyday spending. The company is headquartered in New York and London.

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