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Barclaycard Business today announced the launch of a carbon-offset corporate charge card that will enable customers to offset carbon emissions associated with air travel.

The card is the first commercial card in the world that helps companies to offset of the environmental impact of business air travel. By tracking a company's spend in this area, Barclaycard Business Sustain enables corporate customers to develop a clearer picture of their carbon footprint. Barclaycard Business are then able to work with their customers to help offset their carbon emissions.

Barclaycard Business manages the whole carbon offset process on behalf of its corporate customers by providing them with commission-free access to the Certified Emission Reduction Market via Barclays Capital's Emissions Trading Desk. Barclays Capital purchases Certified Emissions Reductions (CERs) on behalf of the customer at zero commission and then arranges for the CERs to be cancelled, effectively ensuring that the certificates are non-tradable in the future. As a result, the customer receives cancelled CER certificates, and the knowledge that the environmental impact of their business travel has been offset.

The launch of Barclaycard Business Sustain follows the introduction by Barclaycard Business of a similar card in partnership with Deloitte, the global consultancy firm. The Deloitte card was introduced in May 2007, where it was met with tremendous enthusiasm amongst employees and where it has already resulted in significant benefits in terms of carbon offset.