Lahti invites fellow cities to join in
With the CitiCAP project (Citizens' cap-and-trade co-created), Lahti becomes the first city in the world to plan and implement a system for mobility emissions trading for its residents. Carbon credits are traded using a mobile application that automatically detects the different modes of transport and calculates the resulting CO2 emissions. The application also collects comprehensive information on people's mobility choices that can be used for instance to design new mobility services.
The transport emissions cap calculated in order to determine the personal carbon budgets of the users is based on the CO2 reduction target of the city. Furthermore, the current living situation of the user has an impact on the size of the personal carbon budget.
By choosing sustainable travel modes, the user will save their carbon credits and earn virtual money. The money can be exchanged to sustainable products or services on the app's marketplace.
The aim of the CitiCAP project is to find at least three other cities to replicate and implement the personal carbon trading model and system in their city. The application has already aroused interest in cities of different sizes both in Finland and abroad, and negotiations are already under way with the first cities that would like to join in. Cities should get involved if they want to solve challenging traffic problems such as co2-emissions, air quality issues and congestion and of course in order to become one the pioneers on the field.
”We provide an instrument for the citizens to take action on climate change mitigation through their own everyday choices", says CitiCAP-project manager Anna Huttunen.
The personal carbon trading readiness of a follower city candidate will be assessed in a workshop organised together with Demos Helsinki, a Helsinki based think tank working on innovative urban development projects. In addition, Lahti will organise a workshop for the interested cities in the coming fall in order to present the development process and steps of the system and to demonstrate the use of the application.
Author: CitiCAP project team
Urban mobility
