Credit: brain&more
Luxembourg-based bank Banque Raiffeisen recently announced that it has planted 100,000 trees because of its sustainable VISA credit cards.
The sustainable credit cards, which are only available in Luxembourg, allow customers to contribute actively to protecting the environment, with the 200th transaction made on each card triggering the planting of a tree in either Luxembourg or Bangladesh. Select customers of Banque Raiffeisen also have access to a loyalty programme, which allows them to collect points that can be used to fund the planting of an additional tree.
On Tuesday 22 April 2025, the bank reported that it had officially planted the 100,000th tree from this initiative at its head office in Leudelange.
Banque Raiffeisen undertook the planting of the trees as part of a four-year partnership with Luxembourg’s Foundation Hëllef fir d’Natur, part of conservation NGO natur&ëmwelt, and the NGO “Friendship Luxembourg” which supports humanitarian projects in Bangladesh.
In its announcement, Banque Raiffeisen detailed that in Luxembourg the tree planting initiative focuses on climate protection and the preservation of biodiversity and noted that “forests play an essential role in the fight against climate change, the regulation of the water cycle and the purification of the air”, adding that the “protection and preservation of our forest heritage is therefore essential”.
In Bangladesh, Friendship Luxembourg is planting mangroves which Banque Raiffeisen noted are essential in the tropical country, where the mangrove forests filter both saltwater and freshwater for the ecosystems, while preventing seawater from entering inland waterways.
Banque Raiffeisen detailed that, by the end of 2024, a total of €408,300 had been raised using its sustainable VISA cards, which was donated to the Foundation Hëllef fir d’Natur. Of that amount, a sum of €216,000 was allocated to Friendship Luxembourg for the planting of mangroves in Bangladesh. The remainder was used to finance reforestation projects in Luxembourg.
