Bunq users have planted 5m trees in Kenya and Madagascar

As COP26 draws to a close, Dutch digital bank Bunq has some good green news.

The digital bank’s users have planted over 5m trees as of today, with 1m being planted in Madagascar and planting in Kenya still ongoing.

With all the tree planting, Bunq’s customers have offset the equivalent of more than 1.6m flights from New York to Paris.

“Sustainability is a virtue bunq’s users value so highly. Together, we are doing everything possible to redefine what banking is and what it can do for our planet," Ali Niknam, CEO and founder of Bunq said.

So that users can see the progress they’re making, Bunq’s app shows users just how many trees they have planted, where in the world they have been planted and which ‘tribes’ (groups of users joining together to plant trees) have been the most successful.

Bunq plants a tree for every €100 its Easy Green users spend with their Bunq cards.

The trees are planted in collaboration with the Eden Reforestation Project, a nonprofit NGO that works in developing countries to rebuild natural landscapes destroyed by deforestation.

Bunq is not only working on becoming the go-to environmentally friendly bank, but it’s also cementing its position as a leader within the fintech sector.

In July of this year, Bunq raised €193m in its first external funding round led by Pollen Street Capital and saw its valuation reach €1.6bn.

Since then the firm has been growing its executive team, led by new chief operating officer Jon Fath, who joined the bank from Transmetrics.

Bunq has also put down roots outside its native Amsterdam, opening offices in Rotterdam and Cologne, Germany in the last six months.

Last month Bunq launched in Spain, where it first trialled its multi-IBAN accounts, which it has now rolled out across Europe.

In March, Bunq became the first fintech to join the TARGET Instant Payment Settlement network developed by the European Central Bank, giving its users access to instant payments with banks both in its native Netherlands, but also across Europe too.