Entry Details

About the Entry

Category: 
All Content > Sustainability Reporting > Northeast

Title of entry: 
The credit card climate crisis

Issue or Publication date:
8/23/2023

Publication name: 
American Banker

Publishing/parent company: 
Arizent

View Website home page:
https://www.americanbanker.com/

Description of the enterprising work that went into this entry and its significance or impact on readers:

Of the many issues plaguing our planet, the production of credit cards may seem insignificant at first. But those small rectangles of plastic add up — one year's worth is enough to wrap around the Earth six times — and they're almost never recycled. Amazingly, the banking industry is well on its way to addressing this problem. But they're not always eager to talk about it.

It was a challenge to get U.S. companies on the record for this story. The first sources to return my calls were based in Europe, where there's a greater cultural and regulatory push to get companies to be greener. And despite many major U.S. companies putting out statements on their plastic reduction, only smaller U.S. banks were willing to discuss the issue. And for them, the question of sustainability was deeply personal.

When reporting on this problem, I also needed to quantify it. There's already ample data on how many cards are produced, how long it takes for plastic to degrade, and so on. But that wasn't enough. I turned to our company's research arm to request a custom survey of card issuers to find out whether our readers are planning to cut down on plastic issuance in the near future. The results were disheartening, but were also crucial to framing the story.

The presentation of this story was as important as the wording. I worked with our design team to create custom art and detailed charts to make this article visually compelling in print and online.

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Entry URL(s), if applicable:
Please enter a URL that will direct judges to the entry: 
https://www.americanbanker.com/payments/news/the-credit-card-climate-crisis

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