Who will win the "footprint" race?

The winner will be us, the people! I believe that fighting the climate change is a mindset matter, you either want to be part of the solution or you are more or less in the dark (for what ever reason).

A big kudos to everyone doing something to help fight the biggest challenge of the humankind - Climate change! We have seen a lot of great initiatives coming live in the past weeks, Doconomy launching collaborations, Tink launching with Greenly, Meniga launching in Iceland and the list goes on.

We launched My Carbon Action in collaboration with D-mat back late 2019, with the aim to provide a tool for Banks to help their customers understand the impact that their lifestyle has on the climate and what they can do to reduce the emissions of it. So how does it work and why does an individual persons lifestyle matter?

If the world is to keep climate change at manageable levels before the middle of the century, changes in lifestyles are not only inevitable, but would need to be radical, and start immediately. Considering current consumption levels, citizens in many developed countries would have to cut their lifestyle carbon footprints by about 80-90% or more, and some in developing countries by about 30-80% within the next 30 years. This is one of the key messages coming from the report “1.5-Degree Lifestyles: Targets and options for reducing lifestyle carbon footprints,” launched by a group of experts from an international consortium of research and policy institutes.

Highlights from the Report:

• 3-2-1 tonnes per person by 2030-2040-2050. Globally, citizens and society need to aim for per-person consumption-based greenhouse gas emissions targets of 2.5 (tCO2e) in 2030, 1.4 by 2040, and 0.7 by 2050 in order to keep global temperature rise to within 1.5 degrees. The gap analysis reveals that footprints in the developed countries studied (Finland and Japan) must be reduced by 80–93% by 2050, assuming that actions for a 58–76% reduction, necessary to achieve the 2030 target, start immediately. Even for the developing countries studied (China, Brazil, and India), a 23–84% reduction, depending on the country and the scenario, would be required by 2050.
• What we eat, how we live and move. Nutrition, housing, and mobility have the largest impact on climate change, accounting for approximately 75% of lifestyle carbon footprints. Hotspots include meat and dairy consumption, fossil-fuel-based energy, car use, and air travel.
• Low-carbon lifestyles. Options with large emission reduction potentials include car-free travel and commuting, ride-sharing, living closer to workplaces and in smaller living spaces; renewable grid electricity and off-grid energy, heat pumps for temperature control; and vegetarian-vegan diets, and substituting dairy products and red meat with plant-based options. If these options are fully adopted, each of them could reduce per-capita footprint by several hundred kg to over a tonne annually.
• The limits of technology. The various reduction scenarios studied indicate that most of the existing emission scenarios assume extensive use of negative emission technologies and production-side efficiency improvement. Only a few scenarios for the 1.5-degree target have focused on lifestyle changes and demand-side actions. However, the actual availability, feasibility, and costs of technologies are uncertain, and thus solely relying on their assumed extensive and broad-ranging roll-out is a risky societal decision. 

Rabobank, one of the three largest banks in the Netherlands, has integrated sustainability into all of its business operations. Their inclusive approach is aimed at making customers and stakeholders more sustainable, step by step. They use their financial solutions, industry knowledge and networks to empower clients to future-proof their activities, homes and businesses.

This is an important approach because studies have estimated that 70% of emissions are driven by consumer behavior. Changes in consumption patterns and lifestyles are critical and should be an integral part of addressing climate change, keeping global warming within the limit of 1.5 °C as in the aspirational target of the Paris Agreement.

In contribution to tackling climate change, Rabobank was looking for a sustainable partner that can help with providing insights to their customers about their impact on the environment.

In this customer case story, you’ll learn how Rabobank found Enfuce and My Carbon Action (transaction-based carbon footprint calculator), how it was implemented at Rabobank and what results have been achieved so far.

Key figures

→ 90%+ of new users in the onboarding flow answered the lifestyle questions.

→ My Carbon Action has had a positive effect on 30% of its users.

Challenge

Based on interviews with customers in the Netherlands, Rabobank found out that people have no idea about the impact their lifestyles have on the environment. However, the organization also concluded that people want to have a more sustainable lifestyle but have no idea how to improve their behavior and habits to achieve that.

To respond to the interest from customers who would like to know more about their impact on the environment, Rabobank’s innovation department started looking into multiple markets with possibilities for carbon footprint calculations for a pilot.

Solution

One of Rabobank’s considerations was whether they would be able to get customers engaged in calculating their environmental impact. When searching for a suitable carbon footprint calculator, Rabobank found Enfuce on social media, and after further research they thought that My Carbon Action checks all of their requirements.

“We thought about three different pillars: giving customers insights about the environmental impact of their lifestyles, making it actionable by giving suggestions on how to reduce the impact, and how to compensate for it. My Carbon Action is spot on as a solution because the insights are based on scientific research and given in different categories, such as food and housing”, says Joyce Ohello, Innovation Manager at Rabobank.

Outcome

Since implementing My Carbon Action, the response and the results have been positive. Users have found the lifestyle-related questions in the app to be highly valuable and more personal.

“We used lifestyle questions to get people engaged, and saw that they gave My Carbon Action a higher ranking when they were added. When they were added, more than 90% of the new users in the onboarding flow answered them”, says Ohello.

What users have found to be the most insightful include the environmental impact of green energy, meat and plastic packaging. Thanks to the value My Carbon Action has brought to the users, it has already had a positive effect on 30% of the users.

“I had no idea that eating meat and fish had consequences. 50 grams of beef, 1 kg of CO2. That surprises me the most.” – Robert, 32 years old.

“I am shocked by the difference that someone with green electricity really produces so much less CO2 emissions.” – Leon, 30 years old.

“I have recently started eating less meat, and try to buy as few products as possible with plastic packaging” – Wouter, 28 years old.

Collaboration between Enfuce and Rabobank

Rabobank appreciates the collaboration they have with Enfuce and finds My Carbon Action to be a unique solution for carbon footprint calculations.

“People say that My Carbon Action has really had an influence on their lifestyles. What we have seen while working with Enfuce is their willingness to think along with us to create the best possible solution for us”, says Ohello.

It has been a huge honor to work with an innovator like Rabobank because it justifies the existence of My Carbon Action. We share the same mission and vision: like Rabobank, our purpose is to help our customers become more sustainable and together make a positive impact in the world!