Abstract
With global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions ever increasing, we are currently seeing a renewed interest in carbon footprint calculators (or carbon calculators for short). While carbon calculators have traditionally calculated emissions based on user input about e.g., food, heating, and traveling, a new development in this area is the use of transaction data to also estimate emissions based on consumption. Such carbon calculators should be able to provide users with more accurate estimations, easier input possibilities, and an incentive to continue using them. In this paper, we present the results from a survey sent to the users of such a novel carbon calculator, called Svalna. Svalna offers users the possibility to connect their bank account. The transaction data are then coupled with Environmental Extended Multi Regional Input Output data (EE-MRIO) for Swedish conditions which are used to determine a continuous overview of the user’s greenhouse gas emissions from consumption. The aim of the survey was to (a) understand whether people are willing to connect their bank account, (b) whether they trust the calculations of their emissions, and (c) whether they think the use of Svalna has an effect on their behaviour. Furthermore, we wanted to know how Svalna could be improved. While the results of the survey showed that many users were willing to connect their bank account, a rather large part of the users perceived safety risks in doing so. The users also showed an only average level of trust in the correctness of the estimated greenhouse gas emissions. A lack of trust was attributed to experiencing technical problems but also to not knowing how the emissions were calculated and because the calculator could not capture all details of the user’s life. However, many users still indicated that the use of Svalna had helped them to initiate action to reduce their emissions. In order to improve Svalna, the users wanted to be able to provide more details, e.g., by scanning receipts and get better options for dealing with a shared economy. We conclude this paper by discussing some opportunities and challenges for the use of transaction data in carbon footprint calculators.
Highlights
Climate change is arguably the most pressing societal challenge of our time and poses a serious threat to ecosystems and the future well-being of humanity [1]
In order to understand how much experience the respondents had with Svalna when answering our questions, we first asked the respondents to indicate how often they had used the app during the past month
How can one calculate CO2 based on that?” The other main reason for not connecting a bank account was that the participants experienced technical problems
Summary
Climate change is arguably the most pressing societal challenge of our time and poses a serious threat to ecosystems and the future well-being of humanity [1]. The failure to address this issue through establishing internationally binding abatement targets has led the international community to reconsider the top-down approach and instead build the Paris agreement on nationally determined contributions (NDCs) This puts the need for public engagement and support in national policy processes at the center stage. Carbon footprint or carbon calculators are a form of environmental footprint calculators Such environmental footprint calculators estimate their users’ environmental footprint based on information about their lifestyle (e.g., housing, expenses, travel habits, diet). This environmental footprint is a measure of environmental impact, which includes greenhouse gas emissions, as well as water and land use. We are aware of the slightly misleading term, we will write ‘carbon footprint calculator’ and ‘carbon calculator’ interchangeably to indicate a tool that calculates greenhouse gas emissions in the broadest sense
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