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The “Groceries” category covers your transactions in supermarkets and wholesale stores, as well as specialised food stores, like at the butcher. To estimate the average emissions for this category we take a wide range of products, both for high and low environmental impact, into consideration (e.g. meat, fish, dairy or cleaning products).

Did you know that food products often have higher emissions per purchase compared to non-food items? This average emission factor used for groceries (including food) may explain why emissions for this category can be higher compared to other categories like shopping (mostly non-food).

We work together with one of the leading transaction-based carbon calculation providers: Deedster. To estimate emissions, we assign an activity-specific emission factor to each of your payments. An emission factor is denoted as carbon emissions per Swiss franc (CHF) spent. E.g. if you purchase the ingredients for your dinner at a particular supermarket and pay CHF 35, the emission factor for Swiss supermarkets (731g CO2/CHF) is assigned to the payment and you can see the resulting carbon emission estimate (CHF 35 multiplied by 731g CO2/CHF resulting in 26’460g or 26.5kg CO2) in the app.

Please note that the carbon footprint displayed in our app is always an estimation based on the information about the amount and purchase category of your transaction. To provide more detailed results would require additional information about you and your shopping behaviour – and your data privacy is something we take very seriously. This is why we provide the best possible estimation based only on available data.

We consider all greenhouse gas emissions in the emissions estimates for your payments. For reasons of simplicity, we summarise all greenhouse gases including methane or nitrous oxide under kg CO2 in the app. To summarise different types of greenhouse gases, their global warming potential is compared, which then serves to denote all emissions in equivalents of kg CO2. Globally, over 75% of all greenhouse gas emissions are carbon emissions.

Researchers of the University of Geneva have calculated all the carbon emissions that we can emit and still remain below a 2°C global temperature increase (carbon budget) compared to pre-industrial levels for all countries in the world including Switzerland. They have estimated all the inhabitants living in Switzerland until the year 2100 and have broken down Switzerland’s carbon budget to all inhabitants resulting in a number of 0.6t CO2 per inhabitant per year. It is extraordinarily difficult to reach this rather low level of annual carbon emissions due to the fact that most contemporary products and (public) services we consume even with the most modest and sustainable lifestyle lead to exceeding this number very quickly. A vast transition of the economy is needed to allow for individuals to comply with a below 2°C lifestyle. Nonetheless, all the carbon we emit today on top of the 0.6 t CO2 per person per year needs to be saved one way or another in the future.

The Federal Office for Buildings and Logistics (FOBL) makes an extensive set of environmental impact indicators available around the building industry. Among many other indicators, this set includes emission factors for different modes of transport to obtain insights into the overall carbon emissions emerging from the mobility of the residents of a building. We use these indicators to calculate the equivalents in “km driving” that you see in the app.

We calculate your carbon footprint based on the price of your flight ticket, which involves applying an average emission factor per CHF to the transaction amount associated with the ticket. This doesn't take into consideration other factors, like the number of individuals associated with that purchased flight, which means all estimated emissions are attributed to your account only.

We acknowledge that this current approach has its limitations, as the price of a ticket for the same flight distance can vary depending on factors like the flight class, how soon your departure is, holiday seasons, discounts to the flight fare price and even oil market prices. In the future, we aim to develop more tailored features – where you can input your specific departure and destination points. With this we could deliver a more precise estimation of your carbon footprint.

We do not know which specific products you buy with each purchase. The only data we receive for each payment is the total amount and the name of the merchant. We therefore assign average emission factors to your payments. This means that if you only buy some seasonal and locally grown veggies at your local supermarket (low-carbon) the carbon emission estimate for the payment will be too high. This is due to the fact that the average purchase at supermarkets also reflects purchases of meat, exotic fruit, etc. (high carbon) and the corresponding emission factor is defined by the average of all such purchases. Please keep this in mind when you are considering the carbon emission estimates in the app. It gives you a good indication of the carbon emissions of your general purchase – but it is never 100% accurate.

In the future we plan to implement a feature that will allow you to optionally share more information about your food, travel, shopping and other habits so we can improve the calculation of your transaction emissions.

Currently, we can only assign average emission factors to your payments based on the grouped purchase category like supermarkets or restaurants. At this time, we don't identify whether you purchase and eat animal-based products or vegan products only. In the future we plan to implement a feature where you can provide us with more detailed information about your food, travel, shopping and other habits so we can improve the calculation of your transaction emissions.

When you withdraw cash from an ATM, we can't know what specific purchase it will be used for.

This is why assume that the money withdrawn is used for a wide range of goods and services. To estimate the potential carbon emissions of your cash withdrawal, we consider the average emission factors per CHF in various transaction categories where cash is still used as a common payment method (e.g. groceries, food & beverages). Based on this, we calculate the emissions for your cash purchases.

There are two types of transactions you can carry out with mobile payment technologies like TWINT. One involves payments to stores, online stores and other businesses. This is mainly a transfer between individuals and businesses. For these types of TWINT transactions we estimate the corresponding emissions, provided we receive additional information such as the merchant name and business category (e.g. food or clothing.) If this information is missing, we can't provide an estimation for these types of transactions.

The other type of TWINT transaction is person-to-person. This is when you send money to or receive money from friends. Since we don't know what the money is used for, we can't assign a particular activity or category to this type of transaction and can't estimate a carbon footprint. This also applies if you send money directly to or receive money from your bank account without using TWINT.

We calculate your carbon footprint based on the price of your flight ticket, which involves applying an average emission factor per CHF to the transaction amount associated with the ticket. This doesn't take into consideration other factors, like the number of individuals associated with that purchased flight, which means all estimated emissions are attributed to your account only.

We acknowledge that this current approach has its limitations, as the price of a ticket for the same flight distance can vary depending on factors like the flight class, how soon your departure is, holiday seasons, discounts to the flight fare price and even oil market prices. In the future, we aim to develop more tailored features – where you can input your specific departure and destination points. With this we could deliver a more precise estimation of your carbon footprint.

Both the producer or service provider and you the consumer as well as other parties like the government or shareholders of the producing company can influence the carbon emissions of your purchase. Therefore, all parties should make sure to accept their responsibility and play their part in the transition to a climate-friendly economy.

If you as a consumer along with other consumers stop buying a product, the decreased demand can lead to a decrease in production, which translates to fewer carbon emissions. If the producer or company, decides to adopt more sustainable production processes, fewer carbon emissions occur as well. Shareholders too can demand that a company changes its production processes. Finally, if the government puts in place regulations requiring companies to produce more climate-friendly, which also results in fewer carbon emissions.

The “Shopping” category covers your transactions in shops and boutiques with non-food products like books, computers, jewellery, flowers, clothes, shoes or office supplies.

Each shopping transaction is assigned to a subcategory (e.g. books, electronics, clothing) that best matches the product purchased from that transaction. We then assign an emission factor to each subcategory that's based on the environmental impact it takes to produce the product and pricing structure. Let’s take the example of an e-reader you purchased in an electronic store and a paperback book from a bookstore. Since electronic products like an e-reader consume many resources and emissions in the manufacturing process, it’s likely that your transaction from the electronics store will have a higher impact compared to a transaction at the bookstore.

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The “Groceries” category covers your transactions in supermarkets and wholesale stores, as well as specialised food stores, like at the butcher. To estimate the average emissions for this category we take a wide range of products, both for high and low environmental impact, into consideration (e.g. meat, fish, dairy or cleaning products). Did you know that food products often have higher emissions per purchase compared to non-food items? This average emission factor used for groceries (including food) may explain why emissions for this category can be higher compared to other categories like shopping (mostly non-food).

The “Food and Drink” category includes your transactions from food service providers like bars, cafés, fast food, restaurants and food delivery services.

Each food and drink transaction is assigned to a subcategory (e.g. restaurants, fast food, bars) that best fits the type of food services purchased with that transaction. We then assign an emission factor to each subcategory that considers the carbon footprint of the entire meal ordered and the associated service provided by the establishment, like the dining experience or service. This is why the total emissions for your transactions in this category may be significantly higher compared to the "Groceries” category.

The "Transport" category covers your transactions related to the use of public transport, petrol stations, taxi services and vehicle-related services, like car services, car washes, parking garages and related services. Each transport transaction is assigned to a sub-category (e.g. public transport, car wash, taxi, petrol station) that best matches your purchased transport services and goods. We then assign an emission factor to each subcategory based on its climate impact. This explains why buying petrol usually has a higher overall footprint and emissions per CHF than buying tickets for public transport, like trains.

The "Travel" category includes transactions that you usually carry out during your holidays, besides your everyday transport. This includes bookings with airlines, travel agencies, hotels or campsites. Each travel transaction is assigned to a subcategory (e.g. airlines, hotels, travel agencies) according to the service purchased with that transaction. We then assign a corresponding emission factor based on its environmental impact. This may explain why your transactions with airlines generally cause higher emissions per CHF than transactions with hotels or travel agencies.

The "Health" category includes your transactions related to health-insurance, medical services provided by doctors, dentists, opticians, nursing homes or purchases from pharmacies. Each health transaction is assigned to a sub-category (e.g. doctors, pharmacies, health insurance) that matches the services or products purchased with that transaction. We then assign a corresponding emission factor according to its climate impact.

The “Leisure” category covers transactions related to entertainment, culture and your hobbies. This includes anything from museums, art galleries, cinemas, amusement parks, zoos, casinos, mobile app store purchases, audio, visual and gaming services, and sporting events.

Each leisure transaction is assigned to a subcategory (e.g. museums, app store, cinemas), that best matches the type of leisure-related services and goods purchased. We then assign an emission factor per subcategory according to the climate impact of the purchase. This may explain why your transactions used to pay for streaming subscriptions can have a different total footprint than transactions spent for a day in the museums or amusement parks.

The “Personal Care” category covers transactions related to your wellness activities like gym and yoga class subscriptions, swimming pool memberships, cosmetic stores, perfume stores, hairdressers, and different sports activities like football, hockey and other wellness services.

Each personal care transaction is assigned to a subcategory (e.g. gym, hairdresser, swimming halls), that best matches the personal care service and goods purchased. We then assign a corresponding emission factor per subcategory according to the climate impact of the purchase. This may explain why transactions for buying cosmetics and perfumes can have a different total footprint as compared to when paying for a gym subscription or a trip to the hairdresser.

The “Living” category includes your transactions related to home costs such as mortgage, rent, house utilities, contractor services (architect, carpenter, electrician, gardener), telecom subscriptions, interior design firms or purchases from furniture stores.

Each living transaction is assigned to a subcategory (e.g. carpenter, house cleaning, rent payment, relocation services, household appliances store, etc.), that best matches the type of services and goods purchased. We then assign a corresponding emission factor per subcategory according to the climate impact of the purchase. This can explain why transactions used to pay for your housing utilities, like gas or heating, can have a higher

emission per CHF and overall total footprint as compared to when you have a transaction made for purchasing appliances or furniture at a store.

The “General” category includes all your other transactions and miscellaneous expenses on goods and services such as pet costs (stores, veterinary), government services, donations, university tuition fees, postal services, drycleaners, and others.

Each general transaction is assigned to a subcategory (e.g. postal service, government services, clothes cleaning, etc.), that best matches the type of general services and goods purchased. We then assign a corresponding emission factor per subcategory according to the climate impact of the purchase. This may explain why there can be different overall footprint estimates for your transaction made to the postal office versus a transaction made at the dry cleaners and laundromats.

When you withdraw cash from an ATM, we don’t know what specific purchase it will be used for. Our approach is to consider all possibilities and that the withdrawn money is likely to be used to purchase a variety of goods and services. To estimate the possible carbon emissions of your cash withdrawal transactions, we take into account the average emission factors per CHF across different transaction categories where cash still commonly serves as a viable payment method (e.g. groceries, food & drink, miscellaneous shopping, etc.) We then use this to estimate the emission for your ATM withdrawal transaction.

At this time, you can’t change the categories. Our categorisation system is based on an advanced methodology developed by Contovista. We acknowledge that it does still present some limitations and are working on ways to continually improve categorisation features in the future.

Our categorisation system and carbon footprint calculation currently doesn't have the capability to distinguish between second-hand stores and retail stores. We are actively working on adding new features that will incorporate this level of detail in the future. Our goal is to accurately account for the environmental impact of second-hand stores as we fully recognise their importance in promoting a circular economy and reducing waste.

Currently, our categorisation system and carbon footprint calculation doesn't have the capability to distinguish between organic grocery stores and traditional grocery stores. We are actively working on improving the accuracy of the footprint estimation to incorporate such specific details in the future.

Did you know that purchasing organic products doesn't automatically equate to products with lowered carbon emissions? When it comes to organically produced vegetables and fruits, especially when they are also grown locally and in season it typically equates to lower carbon emissions. When it comes to organically produced meat products, it can be the reverse, as it requires more resources to produce compared to conventionally farmed counterparts. Of course, buying organic overall brings a lot of benefits beyond lowered carbon emissions, like supporting agricultural practices that are aligned with nature. This often includes a more considerate use of resources, preventing harm to habitats, less harmful chemicals and increased animal welfare. Most organic standards also ensure higher social welfare for farm labour.