Over the next couple of weeks we are going to take a good look at some of the eco rewards competition.

There's competition? Yes. We were going to do a short piece like "How Does Ecomonkey compare with other Green Rewards programmes?" but then discovered a bit of a gap in independent reviews. So, we start by looking at the behemoth of loyalty cards, the Nectar Card.

Nectar Green Club: is neatly and concisely packaged. A handful of green rewards (what we call "points burn"), eco kettle, trees, wind-up radios; you get the idea.

In case you hadn't worked it out yet, 1000 Nectar points equals £5. By our calcs, most of the products are priced at standard retail prices, though this is typical of large reward providers. For some products, like the elegant looking Wattson Energy Monitor, they appear to be a tad on the expensive side.

On the "points earn" side there are 5 options.

(1) Collect 1,000 Nectar points when you rent a fuel-efficient car from the Hertz Green Collection. We shouldn't really sneer, but this option is available at only 50 European locations, OK it's a good start. 6/10

(2) What else? With the catchy "Make a statement. Cut out paper." they encourage you to take their Nectar Credit Card. Not a bad interest rate, all things considered and you collect points every time you shop. American Express, the card provider won't then send you statements in the post every month. They say this is all "Doubly rewarding!", but we think this is double-speak, because the reason they want to cut out the paper is less than altruistic - it costs them money! Do you get extra points for going paperless? The small print doesn't say. 4/10

(3) A year or so ago there was some fanfare around BP's - target neutral campaign. It's simple and it's all manageable goes the script. "We all contribute to C02 emissions when we drive and we can all do something about it." For the average car user, it's just £20 a year. Assuming this is for an average fuel inefficient car and 11,000 miles this mightn't sound too bad for a cost-conscious driver, though a better way to achieve much higher savings might be to buy a more fuel efficient car in the first place, drive less and drive slower (the last 2 are obviously). Our verdict? While BP says they will make additional contributions every time you swipe your Nectar card, this seems to us a bit of a perverse incentive. 4/10

(4) The trade in used mobile phones and you can collect Nectar points by sending in your old phone. It's pretty straightforward, though we have to click on through to Nectar's "solution partner" - Greener Solutions - to get the low down on whether this was as green and socially worthy cause as they assert on the Green Nectar Club site. 8/10

(5) And finally EDF's Green Tariff "lets you support renewable energy for your home". EDF Energy basically pledges to match the electricity you use with the equivalent amount of electricity from renewables like wind, landfill gas (does this count?) and small scale hydro. The jury is out whether their energy efficiency pack, free home energy survey, information on energy efficiency grants and two low energy light bulbs is worth the candle! And what happens to the commission that Nectar receive from EDF for pushing customers their way? Nectar Points received? Zero. That is even before we look at the green street cred of the French energy company. 1/10

Overall verdict? Must do better.

Nectar also offers Nectar points via its own affiliate channel Nectar eStores. Buy e.g. from Natural Collection and you will collect 2 points per £ spent. (Incidentally on Ecomonkey you will get 7 Green Points, or 3.5 times as many, which is quite nice!)