Rabobank customers gain insight into the CO2 emissions of their purchases

Starting today 1000 customers with a Rabo payments account can see the impact their purchases have on the climate. With Carbon Insights customers can track in the Rabo App the CO2 emissions of every euro they spend. Rabobank is the first Dutch bank who provides its customers with an insight into the CO2 emissions caused by their spending. This way the bank wants to increase climate awareness among consumers. Rabobank has the ambition to make Carbon Insights available to all its private customers by the end of the summer.

Climate choices

“On average a person makes about 35.000 choices every day. However we don’t always know how green our choices are. You might know where the bananas come from that you buy in the supermarket, or when you book a train journey you can roughly calculate how much CO2 emissions that creates. However, with many of our purchases we don’t have a clue what the climate impact might be, even though the money we spend and how we spend it plays a large role in solving climate change. This is a missed opportunity as gaining insights is the first step in making more sustainable choices.” According to Fadoua Ajjaji, Product Manager Carbon Bank Retail at the Rabo Carbon Bank. The start-up within Rabobank developed Carbon Insights.

“With Carbon Insights we make consumers part of the solution, just like we do with sustainable farmers who can earn carbon credits through carbon storage in their farmland. Together our eight million private customers can make a difference and combat climate change by changing their spending patterns towards a smaller carbon footprint. For example by buying different, less carbon intensive food they also stimulate supermarkets to offer more sustainable products”, according to Barbara Baarsma, CEO Rabo Carbon Bank.

CO2 insight based on payments

The app divides our customers’ spending into different categories, such as groceries, transportation, clothing and vacations. “Of course we don’t know the exact products somebody buys in the supermarket, so the CO2 emissions remain an estimation. For the calculation we look at the payment itself, not the actual receipt. Customers can provide additional information, if they eat meat or own a car, which allows us to make the calculations more accurate”, according to Ajjaji. “Helping people make more sustainable choices means good news for the climate. Knowing how your behaviour impacts the climate might help you make other decisions. Perhaps you will reduce the amount of new clothes you buy. That is not only good for the climate but also for your wallet.” On top of gaining an insight into their CO2 emissions people also receive tips on how to make more sustainable decisions. Customers can receive additional information, such as the CO2 emissions of driving by car from Amsterdam to Paris, or how much CO2 you produce by showering for 5 minutes. Rabobank customers can use Carbon Insights for free. They can sign-up or sign-off at any time.

Access to your own personal data

Rabobank developed this innovative feature in collaboration with Ecolytiq, a green fintech company where researchers and technical experts work to provide an insight into the CO2 emissions of consumption. Ecolytiq provides Rabobank with the Dutch CO2 values per euro and spending category. Transparency is essential here, that is why Ecolytiq uses the Open Payment Standard, supported by the EU-Open Sustainability Registry (EU-OSR). This means that scientists, policy makers, companies and consumers can look at the calculation methods and provide feedback for future improvement.

The privacy of our customers is guaranteed as every Rabobank customer only has access to the data related to accounts of which they are the accountholder. In a secure and sealed environment, managed by Rabobank, the payment data is processed in a model which calculates the CO2 emissions. The data never leaves Rabobank and will not be used for any other purpose.