Standard Chartered has entered into an agreement with the Swedish impact tech company Doconomy, to introduce a digital tool that helps clients track, measure, and manage the impact on carbon emissions and freshwater consumption, based on goods and services they have purchased, as identified through their credit and debit card transactions.
This is based on the Åland Index introduced in 2016 to provide financial institutions with carbon footprint calculations for every transaction, which recently added freshwater calculations to its impact presentation.
The climate crisis is one of the greatest challenges facing the world today, and its impact on the environment and human health significantly affects sustainable economic growth. This collaboration has the potential to allow millions of consumers overtime to gain further insights and knowledge into how their individual consumption affects the environment and the climate.
It also marks a starting point for working together to further expand digital tools and support consumers in taking everyday climate action. For any card transactions, the fully automated Aland index can calculate the carbon and water footprints on each of these transactions in kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalents and water used per litre respectively.
This is derived from the purchasing price and an emission factor, which varies for the different sectors depending on how the product or service is produced.
This output is then visualised for clients on Standard Chartered’s mobile banking application. The 47 sectors identified by Doconomy, corresponding to the most common sectors that consumers buy goods and services from, are further divided into various overarching lifestyle categories (such as home, food and transport) to allow clients to see — on a monthly and individual transaction basis — how their impact weighs differently across various activities in life and take proactive steps to reduce their carbon emissions and water consumption.
“Sustainability is at the core of our strategy. We are committed to deliver profit with purpose. One of the ways is through the launch of sustainable consumer products and tools,” comments Rosalind Ng, Global Head, Client Experience & Strategic Business Enablement at Standard Chartered. “Our clients want to make more sustainable choices in all aspects of their lives, from what they consume to how they invest. We’re delighted to partner with Doconomy to pilot a new capability for our clients. This capability will help our clients understand their carbon and water impact from their transactions so that they can make informed choices to contribute to a greener world.”
The Bank will pilot the capability for clients in Pakistan later this year. Mathias Wikström, CEO of Doconomy, added “To welcome the fellow change makers of Standard Chartered and be able to work with their team of ambitious minds marks Doconomy’s first step into Asia. Through this collaboration, we’re excited to combine Standard Chartered’s reach and highly regarded skill sets in both sustainability and user experience with our innovative solutions. Watch this space!”
