Finnish fintech company ReceiptHero has announced an initiative to support environmental conservation by donating $1 to the charity One Tree Planted for every new merchant that joins its digital receipt platform, with an ambitious goal of planting one million trees over the next five years.
ReceiptHero offers a solution that allows digital receipts to be sent directly from point-of-sale systems to customers’ banking apps or authorized third-party applications. The startup has formed partnerships with prominent companies, including Nordea, Poplapay, Solteq, Visma, and Verifone.
Since its inception in 2014, One Tree Planted has been actively engaged in combating global deforestation. The organization highlights that 35% of harvested trees are processed into pulp for paper products, including receipts—a practice that ReceiptHero aims to eliminate.
Joel Ojala, CEO of ReceiptHero, stated, “We are excited to collaborate with One Tree Planted and integrate tree planting into our business model. The extensive cutting of millions of trees annually just for paper receipts is unreasonable and must come to an end. By contributing to One Tree Planted, we hope to play a role in reforesting critical areas. Our target is to plant one million trees by 2025.”
In a related initiative, Dutch digital bank Bunq launched a similar program late last year linked to its Bunq Green Card. For every $100 spent by customers, Bunq commits to planting a tree, encouraging users to offset their carbon footprint. This initiative, in partnership with the Eden Reforestation Project, resulted in the planting of 40,000 trees within the first two months.
Additionally, Finextra Research and ResponsibleRisk are set to explore sustainable finance in investment and asset management at the upcoming SustainableFinance.Live Co-Creation Workshop in March 2020. Interested parties can register for the event to engage in discussions about the demand for sustainability, the challenges in sustainable investment, and how organizations across the financial services and technology sectors can work towards achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.