Nowadays, most people are aware of the impacts of climate change and are willing to take action to decrease their carbon footprint. However, there’s a common misconception that individual actions don’t matter since they are minimal and only government policies can make a significant effect. Due to this, for the majority, there isn’t much incentive to change lifestyles and take action. Nonetheless, collective individual efforts not only reduce a large number of carbon emissions but also raise awareness of climate change. Therefore, the team is making a web-based carbon footprint tracker app that focuses on social media integration and game-like challenges to motivate users to reduce their carbon footprint and promote climate action.
The main feature of the app is the carbon footprint tracker, which will first focus on transportation. In later developmental stages, the tracker will be expanded to food, household appliances, and electronic devices. After registering for an account, users will be able to enter simple information about their carbon emissions including the type of transportation and the duration of the transportation. Then, the app will estimate the carbon footprint in metric tons of CO2 using the CoolClimate API and record the information in a database. The data will also be analyzed and presented to the users through graphs and suggestions that allow them to easily understand their current carbon footprint and how they can reduce it. The app will also make comparisons to the real world so the users can get a perspective on the amount of carbon emission they saved. For example, “you saved an equivalent of 20 trees!”. Users will be able to share these data on social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat.
Along with the carbon footprint tracker, there will be friends and challenges feature that motivates users to decrease their carbon footprint. There will be daily, weekly, and all-time goals to help the users decrease their carbon footprint in small steps. For example, a weekly goal would be to “drive your car no more than four times this week”. When these goals are achieved, users will win collectible badges or awards that they can share on social media platforms. These connections to social media platforms will promote the app and bring in more users to decrease their carbon footprint. In addition, there will be a leaderboard of users with the lowest carbon footprint. Users will be able to start challenges with their friends within the app and post the results on social media platforms, which provide stronger motivation to decrease their carbon footprint. As the app is further developed, a points and levels system can be implemented with an addition of game-like quests and story mode.
The problem we are trying to address through our product is the significant increase in global carbon emissions. Even though excessive carbon emission is well recognized as one of the main causes of climate change, the majority do not recognize, or disregard the impacts of their daily actions on the increase in carbon emissions. According to Our World in Data, the sector most contributing to the global greenhouse gas emissions is energy, accounting for 73.2%. Within this energy sector, when focusing on the sub-sectors labeled outside the pie chart, the carbon emissions from energy use for road transport and residential buildings are the largest contributors(11.9% and 10.9%, respectively). While it’s difficult to reduce the carbon emissions from industry, it’s totally feasible to reduce carbon emissions from these sub-sectors through a commitment from each individual and collaboration. Our product will be the place for the users to record data about their carbon footprint and encourage them to take action for its reduction.