This week we found out about a forest being taken care of by Mitsubishi, Ford asking employees to change their inefficient light bulbs at home, and now a carbon-offset credit card with smart car branding. A car that's just a car and not an environmental statement is quickly becoming passé.

About the smart credit card. Unlike other branded credit cards that give the user some sort of reward points or cash back for each use, the smart credit card turns green upon activation. When the card is first used, five new trees are planted by the Woodland Trust. Smart says that these trees will offset the 1091 kilograms of CO2 generated by a smart fortwo coupé pure during a year's worth of driving (if you drive 6,000 miles a year). In a nice touch, the card is made from plastic PETG, which has far fewer toxic chemicals than a standard PVC credit card. The card is limited to UK residents.

Smart and Woodland hope to plant over 5,000 trees by the end of 2007. That's only 1,001 takers for the card. I hope they're just setting the bar low so they can come out with a press release in six months saying, "Wow, our goals were exceeded."