A Finnish town is taking a Marie Antoinette-esque approach to saving the planet, with a new app that rewards environmentally friendly behaviour with, among other things, cake.
The city of Lahti, a little to the north of Helsinki, has been using the CitiCAP app to track the carbon footprints of local residents.
Residents voluntarily download the app, which gives them a “carbon quota” for the week.
If they go beneath their allowance by making choices to walk or catch public transport instead of driving, for example, they receive “virtual euros” to spend on things like bus tickets, bike lights, access to public pools and, importantly, coffee and cake at local cafés.
City council worker Mirkka Ruohonen said the app had been a real perspective-changer.
“I went for a hiking weekend and we did 15km of hiking, but I had to travel 100km by car,” she said.
“After that I checked the app and I was like ‘Was that a good thing?’ Maybe for me but not for the environment.”
The town is the European Union’s 2021 Green Capital and has plans to significantly reduce its environmental impact over the next 10 years.
