Carbon-Sucking Machine: Can Canada Become Carbon Neutral or Even Climate Positive Quicker?

Canadian fintech Mogo responds directly to UN's climate report "code red"

VANCOUVER, BC, Aug. 25, 2021 /CNW/ - The UN Secretary-General has called the United Nations' 2021 report on climate change a "code red for humanity," and in response, Mogo Inc. ("Mogo" or the "Company"), a digital payments and financial technology company, is launching "Code Red Mode". Beginning today, every transaction on the MogoCard will result in a new tree being planted, making the card a literal carbon-sucking machine.

There are approximately 17 billion debit, credit, prepaid card, ATM and cash transactions per year in Canada.  If only 16.5% of those were done on the MogoCard, Canada would achieve its goal of being a carbon neutral nation. Mogo is empowering Canadians with a simple and free way to help Canada achieve carbon neutrality or even climate positivity decades before its current goal of 2050: the company will plant a tree every time a customer makes a purchase with their free Mogo Visa* Platinum Prepaid Card ("MogoCard").

"We've all seen the devastating wildfires and heat waves sweeping our country and the world, and now the recent UN report on climate change has made it clearer than ever that we all must do more if we hope to minimize the impacts of climate change," said David Feller, Mogo's CEO.

"Our goal with the MogoCard has always been to help Canadians save money while also fighting climate change, and given this latest report we are moving away from offering cashback rewards, to increasing our carbon offsetting impact by 10X," continued David Feller. "Many of us are wondering what we can do to make a bigger impact in solving climate change, and it's not just the government that needs to step up. Each one of us has the power to make a massive impact, and here's one more way to do that.  We believe the ultimate reward is to be financially healthy while saving the environment, and if we all need to give up our air miles, points and cashback in order to save the planet, it's a small price to pay."

A challenge to all Canadians

Canada's total annual emissions were most recently estimated at approximately 1.6 trillion pounds in 2019, approximately 42,000 pounds per person.  To solve climate change, we must reduce emissions to net zero as quickly as possible or, even better, start absorbing more carbon dioxide than we produce to become a climate positive nation. Choosing more sustainable options lowers our footprint but the only way to get to net zero carbon emissions is to add in carbon-absorbing initiatives such as planting trees. The new UN report highlights the fact that we must accelerate our carbon-absorbing initiatives if we hope to minimize the effects of climate change. 

"Although this recent report has a dire warning, most importantly, it's a call to action.  We must all do more and we can't wait any longer to take meaningful action," added Feller. "Every Canadian can choose to fight climate change with their purchasing power and by practicing sustainable spending."

Real trees for a real impact

For Code Red Mode, Mogo has partnered with Vancouver-based veritree and through this partnership will be planting a tree every time someone uses their MogoCard. The estimated carbon absorbing impact of each tree in this initiative is 550lbs and, given the average Canadian has approximately 575 cash, debit or credit transactions per year,  Canadians could offset approximately 318,000 lbs of CO2 per year simply by using Mogo for their spending. 

Mogo has been focused on being a net zero footprint company since 2019 and in addition to its regular carbon reducing initiatives, the Company will also be planting an additional 100,000 trees to kick off Code Red Mode. Alongside the carbon offsetting impact of the MogoCard, the Company will be expanding its tree planting feature to other products, including planting a tree for every new member. To learn more about Code Red Mode, including the statistics and claims mentioned in this press release, please visit hey.mogo.ca/code-red-mode/.

*Trademark of Visa International Service Association and used under licence by Peoples Trust Company. Mogo Visa Platinum Prepaid Card is issued by Peoples Trust Company pursuant to licence by Visa Int. and is subject to Terms and Conditions, visit mogo.ca for full details. Your MogoCard balance is not insured by the Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation (CDIC). MogoCard means the Mogo Visa Platinum Prepaid Card.

About Mogo
Mogo is empowering its more than one million members with simple digital solutions to do money like you mean it.  Through the free Mogo app, consumers can access a digital spending account with Mogo Visa* Platinum Prepaid Card, the only card of its kind in Canada. The MogoCard makes it easy to enjoy spending control while doing good for the planet by planting a tree for every purchase. The Mogo app also enables you to easily buy and sell bitcoin, get free monthly credit score monitoring and ID fraud protection, and access personal loans. Mogo's wholly-owned subsidiary, Carta Worldwide, also offers a digital payments platform that powers the next-generation card programs from innovative fintech companies in Europe, North America and APAC, while Mogo's wholly-owned subsidiary Moka is bringing automated, fully-managed flat-fee investing to Canadians from coast to coast to coast. To learn more, please visit mogo.ca, download the mobile app (iOS or Android) or order the card at URL.

SOURCE Mogo

Patrick McCaully, [email protected]