An ideal world would see green living as fun as it is impactful. So, how do we turn that vision into a reality?
We all know that the growing threat of climate change demands concerted efforts from governments, businesses, green groups, and individuals to reduce carbon emissions. While government and industry efforts to promote the transition toward cleaner energy are essential, empowering individuals to make eco-friendly choices in their daily lives through green living and sustainable lifestyles can contribute to decarbonisation efforts by reducing waste, which is also a source of carbon emissions, and creating more demand for lower-carbon products and services as we strive for a smarter, greener future.
Changing deeply ingrained habits can be challenging, but green living can be made more accessible through innovative methods. Governments around the world are exploring new and novel ways to inspire and engage citizens, investing heavily in sustainability education and incentivisation. Noting an earnest desire among its general populace – particularly those of a younger generation – to address environmental challenges, France amended its National Education Code in 2021 to officially include environmental education and to reference climate action (Source 1). In Hong Kong, the government has announced a comprehensive Climate Action Plan 2050 (Source 2) outlining four key decarbonisation strategies: net-zero electricity generation, energy saving and green buildings, green transport, and waste reduction to curb carbon emissions.
While promoting electric vehicle adoption through expanding charging infrastructure, Hong Kong has also been bolstering decarbonisation efforts by enhancing energy efficiency in buildings, transforming the fuel mix in power generation and promoting waste reduction and recycling. Waste was the third largest source of the city's carbon emissions in 2023 at about 7% (Source 3), and it is clear that building good recycling habits among citizens is an important part of Hong Kong's waste reduction strategies.
By making green living more accessible and appealing, community members can truly become active participants in the journey towards a carbon-neutral future.
The power of fun in promoting green living
It can be difficult for individuals to build consistent recycling and green consumption habits, but making these actions ‘fun’ can help! Incorporating a ‘fun factor’ into green living initiatives is a powerful tool for encouraging sustainable behaviour. By making the process enjoyable, rewarding, and socially engaging, and by tapping into intrinsic human desires for engagement, achievement, and competition, people are more likely to participate in eco-friendly activities and explore the benefits of personal green living.
Various domains have successfully utilised the incorporation of fun to drive positive change, and its application to sustainable living holds great promise. Academic studies (Source 4) have found that gamification, or the use of game-like elements, can significantly enhance green consumption behaviour by integrating technological awareness, motivation, and enjoyment, which ultimately helps reduce carbon emissions.
Carbon Wallet: a leading one-stop green lifestyle reward platform for green living
Enter Carbon Wallet, a pioneering green lifestyle reward platform that uniquely incentivises and rewards eco-friendly actions in daily life through its "Green In, Green Out" proposition. Unlike other major green reward apps that offer a mix of rewards, Carbon Wallet exclusively provides green rewards that align with sustainability principles and further contribute to low-carbon lifestyle in Hong Kong. Users earn points by logging green activities like travelling on low-carbon MTR transport, recycling, walking, choosing vegetarian meals and plant-based milk beverages, and supporting green shopping. These points can then be redeemed for Carbon Wallet’s curated green living rewards – a truly one-of-a-kind concept in Hong Kong.
The Carbon Wallet App offers a range of engaging features, such as eco-friendly reward programmes, tips for green living, sustainability challenges with the community, level-up missions to foster green living habits, trivia quizzes and more. This approach holds strong appeal for younger generations, who are often more responsive to interactive and entertaining experiences (Source 5). By transcending individual actions to a collective eco-movement, Carbon Wallet empowers users to contribute to tangible and achievable goals in tackling climate change, further motivating greater participation.
Emphasising the ‘feel-good’ factor, the App allows users to calculate carbon emissions savings and visualise their individual impact with daily examples (e.g. equivalent to the number of kilometres travelled by a private car) and take pride in their contribution to reducing carbon emissions and creating green living environment.
Collaborating for a greener future
As one of MTR Lab Company Limited’s internally incubated subsidiaries, Carbon Wallet shares MTR Lab’s vision of collaborating with partners to co-create a smarter, greener community. And, as a sustainable innovation investor, MTR Lab takes great pride in supporting startups and initiatives that contribute to this good cause.
Through successful collaborations with brands, organisations, and government agencies, as of 30 April 2024, Carbon Wallet has helped reduce more than 1,888,222 kg of carbon emissions since launching in March 2021 – that’s equivalent to the amount of carbon dioxide absorbed by around 82,096 trees in a year, or the carbon emissions from around 6,993 one-way flights from Hong Kong to Tokyo per passenger
The platform’s initiatives have promoted recycling, green living, sustainable consumption, and carbon emissions reduction initiatives across Hong Kong. Some of Carbon Wallet’s most impactful collaborations in 2023 included:
- A strategic partnership with AXA in June 2023 saw the insurance company collaborating with Carbon Wallet to launch a customer engagement campaign that rewarded insurance customers for reducing paper usage through digitalised insurance processes.
- Carbon Wallet collaborated with WWF Hong Kong in October 2023 to launch a "Sustainable Living" user community, which recorded 1,500 Carbon Wallet App users collectively walking over 210,000 km, recycling over 417,000 items, and consuming over 300 vegetarian meals in just six months.
"At Carbon Wallet, we believe that every individual can make a positive impact on the environment through their daily actions," says Chester Cheng, Co-founder of Carbon Wallet. "By making green lifestyles enjoyable and rewarding, we can empower people to make sustainable living fun and contribute to a carbon-neutral future. And, by offering eco-friendly reward options that incentivise consumers’ green actions, we are creating a complete cycle of sustainable consumption, where environmental conscientiousness and green living is both encouraged and rewarded."
Addressing climate change requires active participation from all segments of society. By making sustainable living more accessible and appealing through innovative approaches like Carbon Wallet, we can empower individuals to embrace green living habits and become active contributors to a greener future.
Learn more about Carbon Wallet and MTR Lab's commitment to supporting innovative solutions that foster a smarter, greener future for all at https://www.mtrlab.com.hk/zh/news/carbon-wallet-environmentally-friendly-lifestyle/ .
Sources:
- “France: Climate change communication and education”, Profiles Enhancing Education Reviews, 2024
- “Hong Kong’s Climate Action Plan 2025”, HKSAR Government, 2021
- “Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Hong Kong (by Sector)”, Environment and Ecology Bureau, 2021
- “Gamification of Sustainable Consumption: a systematic literature review”, Georgina Guillen-Hanson, Juho Hamari, Jaco Quist, January 2021
- “Impact of gamification on green consumption behavior integrating technological awareness, motivation, enjoyment and virtual CSR”, Muhammad Farrukh Shahzad, Shuo Xu, Obaid ul Rehman, Iqra Javed, December 2023
