‘2030 Forecast’ Aims to Promote Climate Literacy, Empower Consumers to Shape Their Climate Future

Weekly emissions data from Sweden’s energy, industry, road transportation and domestic aviation — used to track Sweden’s path towards 2030 emissions-reduction goals — are being displayed on digital billboards throughout Stockholm.

Published 2 years ago | About a 3 minute read

Image: Doconomy

Climate tech startups Doconomy and Kayrros have launched The 2030 Forecast — a first-of-its-kind climate-literacy initiative that uses outdoor digital displays to show a weekly snapshot of Sweden’s carbon emissions footprint from energy, industry, road transportation and domestic aviation.

Launched on June 5 for World Environment Day, the 2030 Forecast will publicly display near real-time national emissions data on the streets of Stockholm, for the first time.

The initiative aims to track Sweden’s progress towards its 2030 emissions-reduction targets, based on the belief that environmental emissions data should be available to everyone. Doconomy and Kayrros want to raise awareness and promote a sense of collective responsibility for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by tracking progress towards 2030 climate goals on a weekly basis.

In 2020, as part of its mission to future-proof life on Earth by empowering individuals and corporations to take responsibility for their environmental footprint, Doconomy launched the free 2030 Calculator — aimed at enhancing transparency around the climate impacts of products, and democratizing fast and reliable product carbon footprint calculations; the company now also provides banks and their customers with carbon, water and plastic footprint calculations for every purchase. Now, the 2030 Forecast enables the public to also understand our collective climate impacts and whether we’re making substantive progress toward pressing climate change-mitigation goals.

“The public deserves to be aware of our actual progress in achieving the emissions-reduction goals. It’s the first step in taking action and making the connection between an individual’s carbon footprint and the environmental impact of industrial emissions,” says Johan Pihl, chief innovation officer at Doconomy. “At first, the national emissions numbers might be difficult to put into direct context; but we are confident they will become familiar and relevant over time — it is the beginning of a learning curve long overdue.”

To create the 2030 Forecast, Doconomy partnered with energy- and climate-focused data analytics firm, Kayrros, which analyzes satellite images and other data sources to track environmental metrics. Working with the European Space Agency and France’s National Centre for Space Studies, Kayrros leverages artificial intelligence and advanced mathematics to extract timely, actionable signals on GHG emissions from earth-observation sensors and other sources.

Earlier this year, 2021 emissions data from the European Commission confirmed the accuracy of Kayrros Carbon Watch measurements produced daily over the course of the year, covering CO2e emissions from power plants, industry and domestic air transport.

Antoine Rostand, co-founder and President of Kayrros, said: “We are incredibly excited about this partnership, which brings Kayrros data from the corporate sphere to the consumers’ fingertips. Our ability to address climate change collectively and efficiently hinges on the public’s awareness of what makes our footprint bigger or smaller. Climate literacy and data transparency are key to ensuring that we make the right decisions not just in public policy and corporate practices, but also in our everyday life.”

Doconomy and Kayrros hope that 2030 Forecast will increase the level of transparency and discussion about GHG emissions and foster a sense of shared responsibility between individuals and corporations to accelerate climate action and bend the climate curve. News organizations and media platforms are invited to apply to license and broadcast the live national carbon emissions data, as part of a bigger plan to disseminate national emission levels on public channels.

Learn more about the project and find out how to get involved at 2030forecast.com.