Banque Raiffeisen Introduces Sustainable Visa Credit Cards

Banque Raiffeisen has announced the introduction of its new sustainable Visa credit card range, exclusively in Luxembourg, which allow customers to plant trees.

As a leading cooperative financial group in Luxembourg, Banque Raiffeisen’s mission is to meet the needs of its business and private clients, as well as their expectations in terms of climate protection and the environment. In line with its core values, Raiffeisen offers a range of sustainable products and services in accordance with an environment, social and governance (ESG) approach in support of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

From March 2021, Raiffeisen will launch an innovative initiative to further highlight sustainability in its strategy and products, by introducing a new range of sustainable Visa credit cards in Luxembourg. 

For every 200th transaction made with one of these new Visa credit cards, Banque Raiffeisen, in partnership with natur&ëmwelt's foundation Hëllef fir d’Natur and the NGO Friendship Luxembourg, commits to planting a tree. The objective is to plant at least 15,000 trees each year in Luxembourg and Bangladesh.

“In Luxembourg, this measure aims to eliminate the ecological damage caused by the bark beetle, a beetle which burrows under the bark of big spruce monocultures, hindering the flow of sap and thus killing trees. This is the reason for the high level of concern about the beetle,” explained Patrick Losch, Chairman of the Hëllef fir d’Natur.

In Bangladesh, priority is given to the planting of mangroves, which are of vital importance in a country battling to stay above water. More generally, this action also aims to reduce carbon dioxide and to fight the negative effects of climate change globally.

To increase the impact of the operation and the number of trees to be planted, each of the more than 40,000 OPERA members of the Luxembourg cooperative bank can make a personal contribution by exchanging 1,000 OPERA points for the planting of an additional tree.

Available in Basic, Classic, Gold and Platinum, the new Visa credit cards offer several advantages and are adapted to individual needs. “This new range of credit cards enables Raiffeisen to raise awareness of an important issue and to offer its customers the opportunity to combat the negative effects of climate change,” commented Laurent Zahles, member of the Management Board of Banque Raiffeisen.

For Banque Raiffeisen customers, these cards can be ordered by logging into R-Net online banking. Those who are not yet Raiffeisen customers can order them by opening an account via the online contact form.