Carbon card points to better carbon management

After over a year of research the RSA released a ‘carbon card’ pilot scheme earlier this year in partnership with Atos Origin. The aim is to prove that it’s possible to use existing IT infrastructure to support individual carbon footprinting, and slash the estimated costs published by government. This pilot supports CarbonLimited’s research into the viability and deliverability of a personal carbon trading scheme and could be used  for public engagement in carbon footprint management and for organisations seeking to engage staff in corporarate carbon targets, driven by regulation or internal policies.

The pilot scheme uses the well established Nectar card to capture emissions data from purchases of fuel at BP filling stations. Each time a participant buys fuel, information about its type and volume is sent to their RSA CarbonDAQ account. To participate, sign up to CarbonDAQ and join the ‘Atos Origin-BP-Nectar Pilot’ group. By taking part, you can also participate in the wider experiment in personal carbon trading. Individuals taking part in the ‘carbon card’ pilot are helping the RSA to understand the acceptability of monitoring carbon emissions in a voluntary setting and will receive near real-time information about the carbon impact of their car use. The project will monitor whether this has any affect on participants’ mileage, the relative merit of different forms of incentive’ and the behavioural impact of being part of a group.

The project team explored a number of card-based options for capturing emissions data from fuel purchases at petrol stations in the UK, such as credit cards, fuel cards and the idea of a ‘stand-alone carbon card’. Going forward, the project is exploring a number of other ways to capture carbon emissions data automatically . Delivering an innovative and networked system will have implications for local environmental policy, community carbon schemes and commercial applications.