IDEMIA and ČSOB (KBC Group) launch the first ECO PVC card in the Czech Republic

An eco-friendly recycled PVC payment card is one of the most recent innovations produced and supplied by IDEMIA, whose goals, like ČSOB, include environmental protection. To achieve this goal, IDEMIA has used sustainable resources and applied measures to reduce plastic waste and single-use plastics, etc. IDEMIA also obtained an “Environmental Claim Validation UL” certificate for its newest eco-friendly offering.

According to the current statistics of the Bank Cards Association, banks in the Czech Republic issue more than 3.5 million cards every year, each card using approximately 7 g of plastic. This is over 24 tons of plastic produced annually for this single-use plastic. The new eco-friendly ČSOB card, decreases the already-existing volume of first-use plastic discarded as waste. With the IDEMIA eco-friendly product, ČSOB is the first bank in the Czech Republic to make such a significant step towards reducing this ecological burden to save non-renewable resources, reduce the carbon footprint, and re-use plastic waste to issue new cards.

Care for the environment, ecology and sustainability has been an integral part of ČSOB for many years. We have one of the most environmentally-friendly office buildings in Europe, a green mortgage, a car loan system for cars with environmentally-friendly drive units, a fund investing in water wealth and an e-book full of tips about how to live economically and still help the environment. Now, we are the first on the Czech market to launch a card made from plastic that does not burden the environment. It also reduces our carbon footprint and its design emphasizes our environmentally-friendly stance.
Jan Sadil, the member of the ČSOB board of directors responsible for retail

We are proud at IDEMIA to work alongside ČSOB bank and to support the ecological transition on the Czech market. Our eco-friendly recycled PVC payment card has been manufactured with sustainable resources and significantly reduces plastic waste. At IDEMIA, we take sustainable development very seriously and we are using our expertise to create and promote more responsible and environmentally friendly solutions. The financial community is a key stakeholder in the promotion of green initiatives and we are proud to be part of this evolution. This is why we have also developed a sustainable end-to-end offer portfolio for financial institutions, GREENPAY. The launch of the first ECO PVC card in the Czech Republic confirms our objective to provide green solutions which protect our planet – because banking cards shouldn’t cost the earth.
Amanda Gourbault, IDEMIA’s Executive VP Financial Institutions