Environmental Leader

Bright Planet, which back in March was one of the first U.S. companies to announce plans to offer a credit card with carbon offset rewards, has morphed into Brighter Planet and finally launched its card by teaming up with Bank of America.

The Brighter Planet Visa credit card lets customers earn one EarthSmart point for every $1 spent in purchases. The points earned are used to help build community-based renewable energy projects across the U.S., according to the company. Each 1,000 points earned is projected to offset one ton of carbon dioxide.

Bank of America and Brighter Planet are also offering BofA WorldPoints cardholders the ability to redeem points to offset greenhouse gas emissions. The two companies are also planning to launch new deposits products in early 2008 that will  support the construction of renewable-energy projects.

With the move, Bank of America gets the consumer card it discussed when it launched its $20 billion environmental initiative in March.

While both Bright Card and BofA announced plans for earth-friendly credit cards in March, Wells Fargo was the first U.S. financial institution to offer cardholders renewable energy reward options when it launched its program in April.

GE launched the GE Money Earth Rewards Platinum MasterCard in July. MetaBank issued its GreenPay MasterCard, a green rewards credit card from Fintura Corporation , in August.

Patti Prairie, a former senior vice president at American Express is Bright Card’s CEO. NativeEnergy is providing the offsets.
Brighter planet is trying hard to make the Website a destination for cardholders by offering a carbon footprint calculator, a social networking platform, and a way to monitor clean energy projects funded from cards.