ekko launches FinTech app with Mastercard to fight climate change

By Sunniva Kolostyak

ekko, a new London-based FinTech, has launched its personal finance app which aims to turn the tide on climate change. With a strategic partnership with Mastercard, it offers a debit card and a digital ecosystem combining FinTech, marketplace, Open Banking and retail.

The FinTech offers its customers the chance to fight climate change without needing to change habits – every fifth transaction through the ekko debit card saves a bottle from entering the ocean, and transaction 50 pays for a tree to be planted by the customer.

Customers can track their own personal forest, how many bottles they have collected and monitor their own personalised carbon footprint using their Carbonmeter in the app. It also gives customers access to a curated list of sustainable partners, offering climate-friendly goods and services as part of the wider ‘enviroconomy’.

Ekko aims for its customers to plant over 50 million trees and prevent over 500 million bottles from entering the ocean over the next five years. It is also the first UK FinTech to join the Mastercard Priceless Planet Coalition, launched last year with a commitment to plant 100 million trees by 2025.

While the waitlist for the app is open, the first cards will be issued in June on a first come first serve basis. The ekko card will be issued by FinTech and regulated e-money services provider Paynetics.

Oli Cook, co-founder and CEO of ekko, commented: “We’re excited about launching ekko today. We knew that to make a difference we needed to re-write existing models and build a new eco-system that made it effortless to make a real and tangible difference. We needed to create something where every one of our customers can see what they themselves are doing to help climate change, without actually needing to do anything different.

“With Mastercard’s support, we’re positive about the future and the impact our customers can have on the world,” Cook said.

The launch comes as new research from Mastercard shows two in five Brits (43 per cent) see reducing their carbon footprint more important now than pre-pandemic.

Scott Abrahams, Senior Vice President, Business Development, Mastercard UK & Ireland added: “At Mastercard we are focused on building a future that is both more inclusive and more sustainable, and we are thrilled to have been chosen by ekko to partner with them as they make it easier for people to make a difference to the environment while going about their everyday lives.

“By embedding sustainability into every transaction, we can empower even more consumers to better understand the impact of their purchases and turn that into meaningful action for the planet.”