Sustainability as a service: Building a new service in a Fintech Company

Global warming is happening. Weather patterns are shifting, making living conditions problematic for millions of families around the world. The geophysical and socio-economic impact of rising temperatures will be devastating unless all people around the world agree to do something about it now. Changing consumption patterns can be an effective way to reduce climate change. Researchers propose that low carbon options in food, housing, mobility, and other goods and services would make it possible to reach the 1.5 °C target by 2050. The relationship between every- day behavior, carbon emissions, and global climate change lies at the core of understanding and addressing climate change. Carbon footprint calculators play an important role in educating and motivating lifestyle changes. The purpose of this Master’s thesis was to build a design for and to develop a new service that facilitates the change in consumer behavior towards more sustainable lifestyles based on payment transactions. The thesis was divided into two parts, starting with an evaluation of the market and existing calculation solutions In Europe and the US. The purpose of the first part was to identify the key features of existing solutions and outline what elements are currently missing. As a result, a framework was developed to categorize the existing solutions. The second part was to develop a state-of-the-art solution based on the findings of the first study. After the need for a new carbon footprint solution was validated, criteria for the new service built alongside the framework of key characteristics for the existing and next-generation actionable calculators. This thesis was conducted as a case study research, which is a type of design in qualitative research. Based on the conducted study, the My Carbon Action solution was implemented. The solution and this study have been strongly validated in the market while they are already paying customers for MCA. Largest multinational banks are very interested in this solution