The UK's Co-operative Bank has launched a new credit card that rewards customers for making ethical purchases.
The card, called 'think' offers a lower rate of interest on purchases made from selected ethical partners, including Ikea, Lush, Adili.com, The Ecologist, thetrainline.com and Raleigh.
Cardholders will also receive discounts with selected 'think' partners including a £35 discount with Ecotricity.
The bank says the companies participating in the scheme have been carefully chosen - with guidance from the Ethical Consumer Research Association (ECRA) - for having "strong ethical credentials". Further ethical partners will be added to the list on an ongoing basis.
In addition, the first time the card is used, the bank will arrange for half an acre of Brazilian rainforest to be purchased and protected in the customer's name. For every £100 spent on the card a further 25 pence will be donated to protecting the rainforest.
David Anderson, chief executive of the Co-operative Bank, says: "According to our own Ethical Consumerism Report, conscious spending has been increasing at an average of 15% a year since the start of the decade and all the signs are that this growth is set to continue.
"We want to reward those customers who make ethical choices and encourage everyone to really think about how their choices impact the wider world, which is why we have developed the new 'think' card."
The Co-op says the 'think' cards are made from PETg plastic - a greener material that doesn't involve vinyl-chloride which is used in the manufacture of PVC cards.
Last year Dutch banking group Rabobank launched a 'climate credit card' that contributes funds to environmentally-friendly projects every time the card is used to pay for energy-consuming goods and services.
However instead of investing a straight percentage of card proceeds into environmental funds, contributions are based on the type of purchase made - such as consumer goods, air travel or petrol - and paid into projects run by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). Contributions are based on the impact of purchases on greenhouse gases, so buying petrol results in a higher contribution to WWF project than paying for goods in a supermarket.