Mastercard Campaign to Promote Conscious Spending

In the run-up to the festive shopping season, Mastercard has launched a Green Friday campaign with its partners to raise awareness of conscious spending and environmentally conscious shopping.

According to a statement sent by Mastercard to MTI on Monday, Magyar Cetelem Bank, Gránit Bank, OTP Bank, Magnet Bank, MBH Bank and Raiffeisen Bank joined the initiative, while Kifli.hu and BKK also participated in the campaign.

The professional partners of the campaign are the Association of Environmental Service Providers and Manufacturers and GreenSense. The campaign runs from November 17 to December 5, 2023.

The primary aim of the Green Friday campaign is to encourage more thoughtful shopping habits as the festive season approaches, the statement said.

A dedicated microsite on Mastercard's website will help those who want to get ahead of the game in terms of conscious shopping during the campaign period, with key tips also available on participants' social media channels, according to the release.

The initiative will also be available at the Fény Street Market, Czakó Market and some participating banks. At these outlets, an expert and an influencer will be present to give useful advice to shoppers.

Réka Szalkai, Marketing Director of Mastercard Hungary, said in the press release that while the convenience of digital payments is important, it is also essential that purchases are made with sustainability in mind.

The statement stressed that Mastercard has been committed to achieving global climate goals for years. In 2020, the technology company formed the Priceless Planet Coalition, which aims to bring businesses and consumers together to fund the restoration of 100 million trees to reduce emissions, improve biodiversity and benefit local communities.

Mastercard has partnered with Swedish fintech company Doconomy to create the Carbon Calculator, which allows consumers to view the estimated carbon emissions of their purchases through the banking app and even neutralize them by supporting tree planting. In addition, the company announced in April this year that it will accelerate its efforts to remove so-called first-use PVC plastics from payment cards in its network by 2028, according to the statement.