Helpful teams up with Mastercard to launch sustainable debit card

On the eve of World Environment Day, another eco-friendly fintech is looking to make its mark.

Helpful, a fintech that promotes sustainable living, has joined forces with global payments giant Mastercard to launch its new debit card.

The new debit card will help create a healthier planet with each purchase, with Helpful hoping to plant a tree for every purchase made.

As well as planting a tree for every purchase, Helpful is also creating one of the UK’s largest sustainable retail directories to help their customers shop sustainably, and when they shop with one of the 150 brands already signed up, customers will receive ten per cent cashback.

“We are excited to launch our card in advance of World Environment Day when people will be pausing to consider their own impact on the planet,” Evan Michaels, co-founder and CEO of Helpful said.

“Our vision with Helpful is to create a new way of digital banking that offers sustainable spending, and in future, savings and investments for people who actively put the Planet First. If we all shop more thoughtfully, we can each make a difference.”

By using Helpful, consumers can see the impact they are having on the environment, tracking the trees they’ve planted as a result of their shopping choices all in the app.

“We are thrilled that Helpful has joined the Mastercard Priceless Planet Coalition, offering environmentally-conscious consumers an easy way to help the planet as they go about their daily lives,” Scott Abrahams, senior vice president of business development at Mastercard UK and Ireland added.

Green finance is on the rise, and Helpful’s new debit card will surely join the ranks of some of the most prominent green fintechs soon.

While Helpful’s sustainable directory brings a fresh idea to the green fintech table, planting trees for customers is not new. 

Dutch challenger bank Bunq was one of the first companies to offer its customers the chance to plant trees when they spend, something that Currensea also offers in partnership with One Tree Planted, successfully planting 2.8m trees to date.

Starling Bank also recently began offering its customers debit cards made out of recycled plastic and will plant a tree on behalf of their customers for every successful referral.

Other green fintechs on the scene include green debit card Tred, which helps users reduce and offset their carbon footprint every time they use their Tred card, and portfolio checker Sugi, which checks how sustainable a person’s investment portfolio is and even if it’s in line with the 2°C Paris Agreement target.