Alternative to credit cards and Twint: Companies, not customers, pay for climate damage with Pay Green

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Online shopping and eco-friendliness are often at odds with each other. Not just when it comes to parcel overflow: It is often difficult or impossible for buyers to understand how environmentally harmful or environmentally friendly goods are being produced.

Good news: Awareness of greenwashing, the act of pretending to be environmentally friendly to increase profits, is growing. Following the EU Commission’s call, online retailer Zalando will delete “misleading sustainability symbols and sustainability filters” from its website from April 15. The Swiss Zalando store is also eliminating opaque sustainability labels, the company confirms upon request.

Make greenwashing unattractive

Swiss start-up Pay Green wants to make greenwashing unattractive in online retail with a new approach. Fintech rewards online retailers who save CO₂. Its motto is to reduce greenhouse gases rather than compensate for them. In exchange for CO₂ savings, retailers receive lower transaction fees for customer payments. This principle is called “carbon pricing”. Global environmental policy currently uses carbon pricing in the form of CO₂ taxes and emissions trading.

Companies that save CO₂ save money

How does Pay Green’s reward system work? “We analyze the CO₂ footprint of online stores free of charge, create a certificate and adjust Pay Green transaction fees according to their CO₂ emissions,” says Roman Odermatt (36), founder of Pay Green. Concretely, this means: “If CO₂ emissions are low, Pay Green payment fees for the retailer are also low. Lower than payment fees for credit cards, Paypal or Twint.” Small and medium-sized companies with small CO₂ footprints may particularly benefit.

Environmental certification supported by the University of Applied Sciences of Northwest Switzerland

The question arises as to how serious Pay Green’s environmental certification is. Odermatt: “Our methodology is supported by the University of Applied Sciences of Northwest Switzerland.” Deliberately labeling online stores as greener than they actually are is unattractive for Pay Green because Pay Green will lose revenue.

Against endless growth

How does Pay Green make money? “We finance ourselves solely from CO₂-related payment fees.” Pay Green earns the most from online retailers with high CO₂ emissions. If we assume a future where all companies need the smallest possible carbon footprint, can the company be profitable in the long run?

«Our mission does not end with carbon neutrality. We plan to include more factors in certification. For example, water consumption, social responsibility or production in third world countries.” Odermatt adds: “We are positive about growth. But the world needs to respect the limits of its resources.”

Consumers should no longer pay for environmental protection

With Pay Green, unlike approaches such as air travel CO₂ compensation, consumers should not have to pay for companies’ environmental damage: “No matter how large the online store’s CO₂ emissions are, online shoppers never pay a fee,” says CEO Roman Odermatt.

Pay Green in a practical test

How does Pay Green work from a customer perspective? Blick is testing the payment service in Muntagnard’s online store. The slow fashion clothing brand from Graubunden produces its wool coats and T-shirts in Switzerland and the EU and uses only compostable and recyclable materials. Blick puts a T-shirt in the shopping cart for 39 francs. “Pay Green Bill” is selected in the payment options. There is no extra fee other than the 7.90 CHF shipping fee.

Ten minutes after ordering from Muntagnard, the Pay Green invoice arrives in your email inbox. Conclusion: In the payment process, the intermediate step regarding the email invoice is slightly more complicated than paying directly in the online store with Twint or credit card.

Although the payment system is not as convenient as paying by credit card or Twint, the concept could be especially popular with customers who want to support environmentally friendly online stores. A study by consultancy firm Deloitte shows that more than a third of consumers no longer shop from online stores if they are concerned about sustainability.

Source :Blick