Customers at a building society can now more easily keep track of and manage their carbon footprints thanks to a new app.

The Cumberland building society’s 70,000 current account customers are being encouraged to download the Cogo app and link their accounts to show how their spending affects the environment – covering financial transactions, investments, and day-to-day purchases.

The app will also give customers suggestions on how to reduce or offset their carbon footprint based on their personalised spending.

Cogo is a carbon footprint management product that helps individuals and businesses to measure, reduce and offset their impact on the climate.

It can calculate the carbon emissions of all transactions on an account.

To calculate a person or household’s carbon footprint, it first analyses the banking data and matches every transaction to a specific industry.

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 one kg CO2e.

The app also factors in the type of products sold by each company, for example, which energy suppliers use 100 per cent renewable electricity.

The scheme has the potential to save more than nine million kg CO2e per year - equivalent to flying 44million km, which is the same as over 1,000 circumnavigations of the globe.

Nigel Taylor, head of marketing and brand at The Cumberland, said: “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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