Aspiration Announces "Plant Your Change" Allowing Every American to Automatically Plant a Tree with Every Purchase

New service lets Americans do good every time they buy something by signing up any debit or credit card in their wallet to plant a tree with their spare change

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Aspiration

Oct 20, 2020, 16:23 ET

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 20, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Aspiration, America's socially-conscious, sustainable financial partner, today launched "Plant Your Change," a new service that lets Americans automatically plant a tree every time they buy something with the spare change from rounding up their purchase to the nearest dollar.

When they sign up at PlantYourChange.com, Americans can safely and securely connect any existing debit or credit card in their wallet and start planting a carbon-soaking tree with every round up they make. Recent studies have indicated that planting trees is one of the best ways to combat human-caused climate change, making every card swipe a proactive step toward significantly reducing levels of CO2 while also helping water quality, improving soil strength, and preserving animal habitats.¹

For the average American, connecting their spending to Plant Your Change for a year is like erasing the annual climate impact of two cars or one home.^*

Jad Daley, President and CEO of American Forests, co-lead of the 1t.org US Chapter alongside the World Economic Forum noted: "Tackling climate change will rely on all of us, and Plant Your Change is a creative way to help individuals have a real impact every single day. Aspiration's unique approach to helping Americans plant trees with their purchases provides a compelling addition to 1t.org U.S. Chapter leadership to help conserve, restore, and grow one trillion trees for natural climate solutions, biodiversity, and many other benefits."

The Plant Your Change feature was initially launched to Aspiration debit card holders in mid-April, in the midst of the COVID crisis. Even amid this scary and difficult moment, Aspiration customers stepped forward to round up their transactions in order to plant 2.5 million trees.

"We're used to hearing, 'Want fries with that?' Now, every American can ask themselves whether they want a tree with any and every purchase they make," said Andrei Cherny, Aspiration CEO, and co-founder. "Imagine planting a tree every time you buy a cup of coffee or a package of gum. Plant Your Change lets you use your spare change to fight climate change with every purchase you make — a few cents at a time. And in this moment, we especially need something tangible and real we can do to make a positive difference."

There are over 115 billion card transactions every year in the United States,²providing the potential for one of the largest reforestation programs worldwide. If just 1/10th of these card transactions planted a tree with spare change, Americans could plant up to 10 billion or more trees every year and make a significant impact on the future of our planet.

On the occasion of making Plant Your Change available to all, Aspiration has issued a challenge to Americans to plant at least 100 million trees in the next ten years. One hundred million grown trees can:

Counter the annual carbon impact of every home in Boston^*
Remove the annual carbon impact of one car per household in St. Louis and Pittsburgh combined^*

For more information about how Aspiration is helping save the planet through responsible and ethical finance, visit Aspiration.com. Join the conversation and connect with the team on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

About Aspiration Partners, Inc:
Aspiration is the first socially-conscious, sustainable neobank built to help everyone spend, save, and invest to both "Do Well" and "Do Good." By bringing quality, ethical, and sustainable financial products to all, Aspiration is on a mission to revolutionize the financial industry and change it for the better. Aspiration Partners, Inc. is a certified B Corp. Headquartered in Marina del Rey, CA, Aspiration Partners Inc is backed by investors including Alpha Edison, AGO, UBS O'Connor Capital Solutions, Sutter Rock, Allen & Company, the Omidyar Network, Social Impact Finance, Joseph Sanberg, Alex Pomeroy, Glenn "Doc" Rivers, Orlando Bloom, and Leonardo DiCaprio. For more information, visit Aspiration.com.

Plant Your Change as a standalone service will be provided through Make Earth Green Again, LLC, an affiliate of Aspiration Financial, LLC, a registered broker-dealer and Member FINRA/SIPC, and a subsidiary of Aspiration Partners, Inc.
¹ Arbor Day Tree Facts.
² 2019 Federal Reserve Payments Study; 2018 Survey of Consumer Payment Choice.
^* Based on a proprietary calculation using publicly available data, Arbor Day Tree Facts, and the EPA Greenhouse Calculator

SOURCE Aspiration