Carbon Tracking App Introduced by Cumberland Building Society

From this month onwards, clients of The Cumberland will find it a lot easier to monitor their carbon spend with a tool used to measure and reduce their carbon footprints.

The building society’s 70,000 current account customers are now being encouraged to download the Cogo app and link up their Cumberland account in order to give them an accurate picture of how their spending impacts the environment – covering financial transactions, investments, and everyday purchases.

The app will give clients suggestions on how to lower or offset their carbon footprint based on their personalized spend.

Cogo has a robust algorithm that’s able to calculate the carbon emissions of all transactions on an account.

In order to calculate an individual or household’s carbon footprint, Cogo analyzes the banking data and matches transactions to a particular industry (like fashion, grocery, insurance). It then tries to estimate the carbon footprint of that transaction using secure Open Banking data.

For instance, £1 spent at a UK-based fashion retailer creates on average 1kg CO2e.

As noted in the update, the app factors in the type of products sold by each firm, for example which energy suppliers use 100% renewable electricity.

This partnership with Cogo, which is focused on the sustainability journey for the building society, aims to inform and educate clients about the benefits of positive collective action. As the first building society in the United Kingdom to support carbon tracking, The Cumberland is establishing the path for others to adopt sustainability goals and help clients consider how their finances/spending are impacting the planet.

Based on Cogo’s previous experience, each client that engages and takes action might save around 130kg of carbon emissions per year; the more action they adopt the greater their potential savings.

If all Cumberland clients engage with this carbon tracking tool, the initiative could save more than 9 million kgs CO2e yearly – which is the equivalent to flying 26.6 million miles (which is the same as more than 1000 circumnavigations of the globe).

Emma Kisby, UK and Europe CEO at Cogo, stated:

“At Cogo, we are committed to getting people to measure, reduce and offset their impact on the climate. In order to achieve impact at scale, we need to work with like-minded organisations, such as this first building society partnership with The Cumberland. Through the use of our powerful data-driven insights, The Cumberland’s thousands of customers will now be able to understand their own carbon footprint and learn more about how their everyday choices impact the planet. We’re excited to be entering into this first-of-its-kind partnership with The Cumberland, leading the way in championing a sustainable approach to spending.”

Nigel Taylor, Head of Marketing and Brand, at The Cumberland, remarked:

“At The Cumberland we are aware of how instrumental sustainability is to our strategy and goals. We’re excited to partner with Cogo as it aligns perfectly with our core purpose, helping people understand how they can positively impact the environment and be kinder to the planet. Through our partnership with Cogo, we aim to help educate our colleagues and customers so they can understand their carbon footprint. We are also keen to learn ourselves as we continue to scale up our own journey to reduce carbon emissions. Cogo provides us with incredibly useful insights and data to inform the decisions and actions we need to take to build a sustainable future for all.”



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