Individual carbon accounts encourage low-carbon lifestyles

Daily activities such as garbage sorting, green transportation, and emptying one's plate can be recorded in individual carbon accounts, allowing individuals to earn rewards for their environmentally friendly actions.

Under the "carbon inclusion" mechanism, every individual contributes to China's efforts to achieve its "dual carbon goals" of peaking carbon emissions by 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality by 2060.

Carbon inclusion is an innovative mechanism that increases public participation in carbon reductions and aims to encourage the low-carbon practices of individuals and small and medium-sized enterprises.

Individual carbon accounts, as a key tool under the carbon inclusion mechanism to "visualize" personal contributions to carbon emission reduction, form the basis for offering individuals incentives to reduce their carbon footprint.

Residents throw garbage into an intelligent garbage sorting bin for rewards at a residential compound in Huainan city, east China's Anhui Province. (Photo/Chen Bin)

China has made significant progress in carbon inclusion and has strengthened policy support in this respect, according to a report on the development and practices of China's carbon inclusion recently released by the Center for Environmental Education and Communications of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment and the Carbon Inclusion Commission of the All-China Environment Federation (ACEF). Individual carbon accounts have helped improve the low-carbon awareness of Chinese people, leading them to embrace green lifestyles.

Tracking her low-carbon practices on the "Lyuya Jifen" mini program on WeChat, which translates into "Green Bud Points," developed by environmental authorities in Luzhou city, southwest China's Sichuan Province, has become a habit for Luzhou resident Pan Yan. She logs 144 grams of carbon reduction on the mini program and gains five points after emptying her plate once. She also takes public transportation by scanning QR codes to get 10 points while logging 80 grams of carbon reduction.

The mini program leverages a carbon reduction digital ledger developed by the ACEF, innovatively applies carbon reduction methodologies, and bridges data silos across disparate platforms such as WeChat Sports, public transportation and banks, according to Tao Lan, executive director of the carbon inclusion commission of the ACEF.

The mini program collects, stores and analyzes low-carbon behaviors in real time, including walking, no-drive days and green finance. This digitalized approach holistically captures users' carbon footprints in almost every aspect of daily life, enabling them to join carbon reduction efforts with just a few taps on their smartphones.

"The points are useful," Pan said, as she excitedly browsed an online marketplace in the mini program, where more than 100 gift cards and commodities can be redeemed with the points, including home appliances and skin care products.

"The incentive mechanism works well and encourages more people to embrace low-carbon lifestyles," Pan added.

Since its launch, the "Green Bud Points" mini program has attracted over 600 enterprises, public institutions, schools, and social organizations, as well as more than 350,000 registered users, including over 40,000 daily active users. Together, they have generated over 54 million points and recorded more than 320 tonnes of carbon reductions.

So far, the carbon reduction digital ledger developed by the ACEF has motivated more than 40 million users to contribute to carbon reduction efforts and record a cumulative carbon emission reduction of over 1 million tonnes.

The carbon reduction digital ledger has helped many companies quantify and record low-carbon behaviors of their users and employees, and explore innovative applications in fields such as promoting green consumption, facilitating cross-regional cooperation, and supporting carbon neutrality at major conferences, Tao said.

For example, the carbon reduction digital ledger has helped Toyota Motor to open individual carbon accounts for car owners and assisted Beijing Automotive Group Co., Ltd. in developing individual carbon accounts for its employees, according to the report.

In addition to the "Green Bud Points" mini program launched in Luzhou city, the carbon reduction digital ledger has also supported similar platforms in other regions across China, including a WeChat mini program called "Green Season of Life" in Beijing, and a carbon reduction incentive platform called "Shanxi Green Life" in north China's Shanxi Province.

In recent years, there has been a surge in carbon inclusion platforms led by local governments, companies, and financial institutions, providing opportunities for corporate users and consumers to embrace low-carbon lifestyles, the review report said.

Currently, there are over 100 carbon inclusion platforms and "individual carbon account" products launched by local governments, companies, and financial institutions, Tao said.

In April 2022, China CITIC Bank launched the "CITIC Carbon Account," the first bank-led personal carbon reduction account in China. At present, the CITIC Carbon Account has more than 10 million registered users, including over 100,000 average daily active users.

The report suggested rolling out policies and related management measures for the top-level design of carbon inclusion at an accelerated pace to provide norms and references for the establishment of the carbon inclusion mechanism. It also called for efforts to quickly create standards for carbon inclusion and emission reduction scenarios, improve the incentive system for carbon inclusion, and upgrade supporting technologies for enhancing cooperation in carbon inclusion.

Promoting the carbon inclusion mechanism and individual carbon accounts indeed requires collaborative efforts from all sectors of society, Tao said.