NatWest rolls out carbon emissions app

NatWest is to embed a free carbon footprint tracker within its mobile banking app to help customers reduce the climate impact of their spending.

The national launch follows an eight-week pilot of the CoGo-developed feature by 250 bank staff. The app shows customers the CO2 emissions associated with their daily spending, as well as providing hints and tips on how to go greener and resources for doing so.

NatWest says the trials showed the average user saved approximately 11 kg of CO2 emissions per month by committing to behavioural changes that used less carbon - such as composting, reducing meat consumption, or switching utilities providers.

David Lindberg, CEO, retail banking at NatWest says that if this behaviour was replicated across NatWest’s eight million customers who use the mobile app, it would save more than 1 billion kg of CO2 emissions per year, equivalent to planting 17 million trees.

“We know that many people in the UK want to reduce their impact on the climate, and that to be able to change something in a meaningful way, you need to be able to measure it," he says. "Our use of CoGo’s expertise in carbon tracking in the NatWest app is a really important first step in making it easy for everyone to live and spend in a greener way - using the power of their money to influence change.

NatWest users will see the feature enabled in the 'spending' tab of their mobile app in the coming months.