Mastercard said it has taken an equity investment in startup fintech Doconomy AB, and the companies are extending a joint effort to combat climate change by allowing Mastercard issuers to offer cardholders the ability to track their carbon footprint based on purchases they make with the card. 

Mastercard said the first bank in the U.S. and Nordea in the Nordics will join the Bank of Aland in allowing clients to track their carbon footprint through the Aland Index, which is a cloud-based software service that tracks CO2 emissions created by individual transactions. 

"Addressing climate change is bigger than any one company," Mark Barnett, divisional president for U.K., Ireland, Nordic and Baltics at Mastercard, said in a company release. "This is an important next step to continue progress and move from promise to action."

Barnett said that Mastercard has made a commitment to manage its own impacts using science-based targets and renewable energy and now is working to help accelerate actions that cardholders can take. 

Mastercard and Doconomy originally announced a collaboration in February to launch a mobile banking service that lets users track their carbon footprint. 

Cover image: Mastercard.