From this month, customers of The Cumberland will find it easier to monitor their carbon spend with a tool to measure and reduce their carbon footprints.
The building society’s 70,000 current account customers are being encouraged to download the Cogo app and link their Cumberland account to give them a clear picture of how their spending affects the environment - covering financial transactions, investments, and day-to-day purchases. The app will also give customers suggestions of how to reduce or offset their carbon footprint based on their personalised spend.
Cogo has a powerful algorithm that can calculate the carbon emissions of all transactions on an account. To calculate a person or household’s carbon footprint, Cogo first analyses the banking data and matches every transaction to a specific industry (i.e. fashion, grocery, insurance). It then estimates the carbon footprint of that transaction using secure open banking data. For example, £1 spent at a UK fashion retailer creates on average 1kg CO2e. The app also factors in the type of products sold by each company, for example which energy suppliers use 100% renewable electricity.
This partnership with Cogo, which begins the sustainability journey for the building society, focuses on informing and educating customers to encourage positive collective action. As the first building society in the UK to promote carbon tracking, The Cumberland is forging the path for others to embrace sustainability and help customers consider how their finances are affecting the planet.
Based on Cogo’s previous experience, each customer that engages and takes action could save approximately 130kg of carbon emissions a year; the more action they adopt the greater their potential savings. If all of Cumberland’s customers engage with this carbon tracking tool, the initiative has the potential to save over 9 million kgs CO2e per year - that is equivalent to fyling 26.6 million miles, which is the same as over 1000 circumnavigations of the globe.
Emma Kisby, UK and Europe CEO at Cogo, said: “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, said:“ “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.”