American Express, in a partnership with Parley for the Oceans, announced plans to launch the first credit card made with recovered and recycled marine plastic litter. Parley for the Oceans is an organization focused on combating marine plastic pollution around the world. American Express is the first credit or debit card maker to use upcycled ocean plastics and has also committed to a program designed by Parley to endeavor to continue to reduce its environmental impact.
Those include (From American Express):
- Pursue a strategy to reduce the use of virgin plastic in Card products.
- Phase out single-use plastic straws and coffee stirrers for all its major offices and Centurion airport lounges globally within 30 days.
- Phase out single-use plastic for Centurion airport lounges by the end of the year.
- Set a comprehensive waste reduction strategy to reduce single-use plastic and increase recycling rates in its operations globally by the end of the year.
- Pursue zero waste certification for its New York City headquarters by 2025.
- Enable American Express colleagues to be a part of the solution by engaging in annual company-run coastal and river clean-ups.
Other steps American Express has taken to become a more environmentally sustainable company include:
- Reduced carbon emissions associated with its business operations by 50 percent compared to 2011.
- All electricity powering the company’s U.S. data centers and New York City headquarters is from renewable energy.
- Nearly 50 percent of the company’s global real estate footprint is green building certified.
- $3.9 million has been provided in support of the environment and wildlife through the company’s Gift Matching and Serve2Gether programs in 2017.
- Commitment to have 100% of its employee business travel be carbon neutral by 2021.
We applaud AmEx for making these changes and being a leader in environmental impact reduction within the financial banking world. We look forward to seeing more and more companies taking their example and applying it to their own practices!
UPDATED: Full List of the Most Endangered American Rivers Released
