American Express announced plans to introduce new digital solutions to enable corporate clients to better understand and manage their carbon footprint, including digital carbon tracking and offset solutions, and the expansion of its recycled plastic cards. To celebrate Earth Month, the company is also launching “Shop with Purpose” Amex Offers to reward eligible customers for shopping with purpose throughout April. In addition, as part of its $10 million grant commitment announced last year, American Express is also providing $2.25 million to organizations tackling the effects of climate change in local communities, particularly urban areas.

The company previously committed to net-zero carbon emissions by 2035, aligned with the Science Based Targets initiative, and has been a carbon neutral company powered by 100% renewable electricity across its global operations since 2018. According to the latest Amex Trendex2, a trend report from American Express, 76% of consumers surveyed feel a greater urgency to address climate change than they did a year ago. Yet, 84% of consumers surveyed agree they would like to better understand their carbon footprint, and 65% agree they are unsure of what actions they can personally take to reduce it.

Last year, American Express announced a goal to pilot low-carbon product innovations for its customers as part of its Advancing Climate Solutions initiatives, which is a core pillar of the company's ESG strategy. In support of that goal, the company plans to make new digital products and services available later this year to help customers understand their carbon footprint. To help corporate clients better understand their impact and take action to manage their carbon footprint, American Express is developing the following solutions: An Expanded Carbon Footprint Dashboard for global Corporate clients to help track estimated carbon emissions associated with certain categories of their employees' spend - including air travel, ground transportation, hotel stays, restaurants and retail - letting them better understand behaviors so they can find opportunities to manage carbon emissions.

A Carbon Offset Referral suite for U.S. Corporate clients to find and connect with carbon offset providers who can help them manage their footprint via offset solutions that include investments in large-scale carbon removal and reduction projects, avoidance projects, and more. To reduce the company's consumption of virgin plastic, in 2019 American Express launched the first-ever Card manufactured primarily from reclaimed plastic collected from beaches and coastal communities. Since then, teams at American Express have been working to expand the availability of recycled plastic cards globally.

The company's goal is to have the vast majority of plastic cards issued by American Express be made of at least 70% recycled or reclaimed plastic by the end of 2024, which can help avoid nearly 160,000 pounds of virgin plastic from being used annually. American Express' Card Take Back program enables U.S. Card Members to return both plastic and non-plastic cards by mail for recycling. Since the launch of this program in 2019, American Express has recycled more than 1.3 million cards, including cards returned by Card Members.