Educating the public can play an important role in meeting net zero targets, hope the two climate tech start-ups behind a recent initiative.
During London Climate Action Week, climate tech start-ups Doconomy and Kayrros displayed the UK’s live weekly emissions data using four outdoor digital billboards in London as part of their climate literacy initiative, ‘The 2030 Forecast’.
The project, which first launched in Sweden last month on World Environment Day, showcased Sweden’s carbon emissions footprint from the energy, industry, road transportation and domestic aviation sectors on the streets of Stockholm (pictured, credit: Doconomy).
The billboards aim to track Sweden’s progress towards its 2030 emissions reduction targets, based on the view that environmental emissions data should be available to everyone. It also intends to raise awareness and promote a sense of collective responsibility for greenhouse gas emissions by tracking the country’s progress towards its climate goals on a weekly basis.
Working with the European Space Agency and France’s National Centre for Space Studies, Kayrros collects the data by leveraging artificial intelligence and advanced mathematics to extract signals on greenhouse gas emissions from earth-observation sensors and other sources. Creating engagement and educational tools is part of Stockholm-based Doconomy’s mission since it was launched in 2018. As part of another initiative, it works with Mastercard to give card holders information on the carbon emissions linked with the purchase of a product and recommends the amount for a potential carbon offset.
Improving public knowledge
Johan Pihl, Doconomy’s chief innovation officer and co-founder, says that inspiration for the billboard initiative arose when the company realised carbon emissions data is not readily available to the public. He says: “We decided to not sit around and wait for the government to make this data available and took it upon ourselves to show it to the public.”
However, he says, “we are faced with a challenge” with regards to data literacy as the numbers are quite complex and the public may not see their relevance; but it is important to raise awareness about the data and the role it plays in tracking the country’s progress towards reaching its 2030 sustainability goals.
Describing the billboards move as a proactive, public awareness initiative, Pihl says Doconomy is looking at ways to present impact data in a tangible way for individuals and corporations: “Knowing about emissions data should be as important as finding out about the weather.”
A key aim is to start conversations around carbon emissions. Pihl says he wants the public to start understanding how this data matters to people’s overall ability to reduce carbon emissions over time. Hopefully, conversations will lead to action and individuals might be inspired to calculate their own carbon footprints, or corporations might look to measure the carbon emissions of their products and services.
He understands that the public might be frustrated at first as they cannot relate to data, but hopes this will change over time as this is true with anything new. He cites the inclusion of calorie information on food labels, which initially was new and confusing for many people, but now most understand what it means. “We are introducing this before the public is completely educated around the data they are seeing. That’s necessary,” he adds.
Fredrik Nilzén, head of group sustainability at banking group Swedbank, also says when looking at the broader picture in the financial sector, the overall understanding and literacy among consumers in matters relating to sustainability is becoming really important. He says: “Raw data transparency can help consumer awareness, but where the real impact comes is when we enable understanding so that it can be put to practical use.”
Role of government
Pihl adds that while governments appreciate the effect of projects such as Doconomy’s, they would not do it themselves; this creates space for innovation and creativity. “Often we are held back by over-focus on accuracy,” he says. “We need to look for ways for data to be released, and understand it will get more and more precise and create greater relevance over time. But we need to start right now.”
At investment bank DNB Markets, global head of sustainable finance Nina Ahlstrand says there are differing views on whether policymakers, companies or consumers hold the key to solving the climate crisis. “Most likely it is a combination [of these parties], or perhaps a symbiosis,” she says.
For consumers to be able to make sustainable choices, they must either have the appropriate information to make such decisions, or companies must ensure that they offer consumers those types of sustainable choices, she notes.
Ahlstrand says to promote the former option, initiatives like the one from Doconomy and Kayrros can “certainly have an impact”. The willingness to make sustainable choices is most likely there, but it also needs to be easy for consumers to identify them. The latter option would, to some extent, also require policymakers to act to ensure a level playing field for all companies, she says.
Impact on corporate finance
Swedbank’s Nilzén says for some time the bank has seen an increase in demand for information related to sustainability, including climate data. He says enabling both private and corporate customers to make financially sound and more sustainable decisions through the products and services the bank provides is crucial.
“In that regard, both data and understanding come into play. As we steadily build both knowledge and understanding for sustainability in our organisation, we see that we can have a big impact in enabling our customers,” he says.
In recent years, the bank has expanded its offerings to meet this ambition – for example, by financing sustainability initiatives for its corporate customers, and offering sustainable capital products such as green bonds, green equity and sustainable lending. “As new data points, methods and understanding of sustainability in the financial sector develop, I expect to see offers like these both become better and increase in number,” Nilzén says.
According to Åsa Wallenberg, chief executive officer of Storebrand Funds: “Awareness, transparency and anything that triggers action and better understanding of the challenges we face are great and should be encouraged.”
However, she says, the link between savings and sustainability is not overly obvious to the consumer: “We have long referred to savings as the ‘blind spot’ in sustainability awareness. Visualisation is an important part to help the consumer.”
She adds that better data and visualisation helps investors to make better investment decisions as “we are alerted if heading in the wrong direction”. She stresses that it is important to fully understand the data and what is actually presented, and to understand how environmental issues are interlinked. “This is important when you present data to the consumer as well.”
Looking ahead
Doconomy’s Pihl says ‘The 2030 Forecast’ has no commercial interest. Rather, it is an invitation for more research, or for news organisations or governments to think of different ways to introduce emissions data so it becomes even more relevant.
He is also thinking about how to engage with schools and looking at other educational opportunities. Pihl hopes that eventually consumers will get to a point where each individual can see their own part in how the planet is affected by consumption, energy usage, transportation and other areas.
Improving climate literacy in consumers can only help in shifting the habits and mindset of the public to ones that align with sustainability targets.