Australia has been relatively slow to catch on to ethical consumerism. You'll notice McDonalds now promote their new fair trade coffee. The fact that they need to spend 75% of their advertisement explaining what fair trade is should serve as evidence that cause-marketing is not widely used here.

Visit the UK and you're inundated with products branded as 'organic' and 'fair trade'. Our closest equivalent has been the Pink breast cancer campaign, which has seen products ranging from bottled water to M&Ms go pink while contributing proceeds to breast cancer research.

These initiatives are labelled 'win-win' by their proponents. Humanitarian charities receive large donations, consumers feel better about their consumption and corporations receive public good will, positive branding and sometimes an increase in sales.

Worldwide, one of largest such campaigns is Product Red, which was started by U2 front man Bono in 2006. Member companies include Apple, Starbucks, Converse, Motorola, Emporio Armani, Hallmark, Microsoft and Dell. These companies produce Product Red branded products and donate a percentage of sales to the Global Fund, established by the G8 in 2002 to combat the spread of AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

In the UK, American Express has joined the campaign with the American Express Red. One percent of purchases made on the card are contributed to the Global Fund. Once your annual spend exceeds £5,000 pounds, the rate increases to 1.25%.

The card follows from their American Express Green Card, which donates to environmental causes.

One percent may not seem like much, but consider that Australian's spent $18.78 billion on their credit cards in March this year, in an economy much smaller than the UK's. If everyone here used a Red card, $187 million would be donated every month. Obviously, the take-up of the card cannot be 100%, but even if it were only 1%, it would still contribute almost $2m per month.

There is no news on whether we'll see the card here, but we'll keep you posted if-and-when it becomes available.

What next?

• Compare all credit cards
• Read other articles
• Read credit card reviews