Lahti, Finland Introduced Personal Carbon Trading Program, CitiCap App

The city of Lahti, Finland has introduced a personal carbon trading (PCT) program to encourage a shift to sustainable mobility. The free mobile CitiCap (Citizens’ cap-and-trade co-created) app is available to all city residents for download. It automatically tracks the means of transport that is in use and, if the user has replaced driving a car with walking or biking, the app automatically awards them virtual coins that can be used to purchase tickets for local buses, entry to public swimming pools, etc.

“The CitiCap app of Lahti rewards people when the CO2 emissions of mobility are low,” said Anna Huttunen, city project manager for sustainable mobility.

With the app, users can see their personal carbon footprint from transport and how it changes as they change habits. The city’s strategic target is to reduce C02 emissions by 70% from 1990 levels by the year 2030.

Another goal of the project is to collect and share digital data about mobility. With that data, the city of Lahti plans to develop new transport services.

“Sustainable urban mobility is a key focus area of Lahti for the next years. Our aim is to find the most inspiring ways to attract more people to walk, cycle and use public transportation,” added Jyrki Myllyvirta, mayor of Lahti. “Through CitiCap we will build a completely new public incentive, the personal carbon trade, that may revolutionise the participation of citizens to climate change mitigation.”

The app was developed with the software development kit (SDK) from the Helsinki-based company, Moprim.

“Moprim has developed unique AI technology to determine the transport mode of the user. The resulting data allows deeper understanding of people mobility, including their carbon footprint, and enables data-driven development of sustainable mobility,” said Petri Martikainen, CEO of Moprim.