Saving the climate doesn’t just make sense: it can also be fun!

ICLEI Europe is part of the team behind the free Climate Campaigners smartphone app, which offers dozens of exciting challenges to help people live more sustainably and reduce their personal carbon footprint. A new app feature now lets users earn points that can be redeemed for real rewards. The app is available worldwide and in 11 languages.

Ten scientific institutes, three civil society organisations, and three consultant enterprises from around the world have joined forces to ground the challenges in behavioural and social science research insights. Joining them are 14 Climate Campaigners Lighthouse Cities across Europe, Africa, and the Americas, united by their will to lead by example and with their communities. The CO2 footprint calculation and recommendations are specifically tailored for individual cities.

The app’s EU-funded, international team is constantly developing new, dynamic challenges, and in an upcoming update, users will be able to generate their own challenges directly in the app. Through the app’s community feature, you can even network, and create, join, and set challenges with friends.

User's efforts directly support their cities in making structural changes to sustainable lifestyles in their communities. How? The app’s anonymised data is open to all. The initiative’s research partners analyse it and the results inform real policy recommendations in the Lighthouse Cities.

With every climate-friendly choice, people do something good. That’s why when users take part in the #CCchallenges, they receive “Climate Coins” in the app. The idea is simple: the harder and higher-impact the challenge, the more coins it’s worth. In the app’s rewards shop, people can use their coins to redeem real rewards, from discounts on electronic repairs, to unique city experiences. All users can claim global rewards and users in some cities, such as in ICLEI Members Linz (Austria) and Lahti (Finland), can also claim unique local benefits specific to their area.

To learn more about the Climate Campaigners initiative and to download the app, visit the website and/or become part of a global community on Instagram and Facebook.

Feature image by AYA Images purchased by the Climate Campaigners project for project use.