Frequently asked questions
General Questions
Climate change is the biggest challenge of our time. Over 80% of young people are worried about the climate, and rightly so.
Many of us understand that if we are to stop climate change, massive action is required, affecting all parts of our lives. Individuals, organizations, companies, and policymakers are now steering towards the Paris Agreement goals and beyond.
But the shift must come faster, and as individuals, we have the power as both consumers and citizens. We make lots of choices every day about what and how we consume and where to steer our attention.
Active and passive choices made daily affect our carbon footprint and thus the planet we call home. But finding a sustainable lifestyle for ourselves—and changing the one we’ve grown attached to — is not easy. With learnings, insights, climate action, and a liiiittle bit of gamification—we can do it together.
The world needs more climate action—so we’ve decided to make it easy and fun!
We focus on climate action at the individual scale, meaning that each action doesn’t have to be that big or take much time. So we call them deeds—micro-assignments to start creating a better world. Deedster is full of deeds and people doing them. As we’re sure you can tell, it’s a great place to be!
Science tells us we need to do everything that we can, all of us. Policymakers, companies, organizations, and individuals. As individuals, we have the power both as consumers and as citizens.
There are small things you can do, and there are bigger changes; there are low impact and big impact actions. There are also long-term and short-term actions.
Some equal a direct carbon emission reduction, while others come with an indirect saving. We give you concrete examples of these at Deedster—choose your own level in the app.
It really matters what we do, each and every one of us. We need all our combined energy, efforts, and ideas to solve this. Start where you can and where it makes sense for you.
Make your changes and actions easy and fun—then you’re more likely to hold on to them. We know we can create a good life for all, and there’s a good chance it’ll be even better than today!
At Deedster, we believe that small actions by many can change the world. But how to go about it? Let us tell you about our two approaches to solve this age-old question:
Deedster Retail is a SaaS (Software as a service) solution, where our gamified approach to climate action is integrated into your own platform. It’s a powerful tool to interact with your customers and promote your sustainability performance. You can read more about engaging your customers with Deedster Retail here or send us an email.
We also do company-wide challenges as a kind of step-counter competition for the climate, where teams of employees compete in doing the most deeds—the most climate action. Together, these teams achieve a whole lot of climate action in a very short time! You can read more about engaging your employees with Deedster at Work here or send us an email.
Climate Calculations and Content
We love science and research! So we base the learnings you find in Deedster on scientific, official, and expert sources and reports. At the same time, climate change and sustainability are complex areas, and we try to keep up with recent developments. We have consulted our partner WWF and work hard to give the user a fun, factual, and effective learning experience.
Don’t hesitate to reach out to us at support@deedster.com if you have any questions about the content in the app.
Of course, you can! Fine-tune your footprint by clicking the icon for a category on the footprint view. For each of the five categories, there are additional data that we can use to provide a more exact calculation—such as how much you eat of different foodstuffs, how much of what you buy is second hand, etc.
We ask you about your consumption habits and lifestyle across five categories: eating habits, housing, commuting, long-distance traveling, and shopping.
Based on your answers, we calculate how much greenhouse gas emissions this contributes to each year, measured in tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents (CO₂e).
Public consumption, i.e., spending of tax revenues (such as schools, hospitals, and roads), is not included in your footprint. Although we can’t directly influence it through our consumption choices, we can take action and influence our politicians, form opinions, and spread knowledge and commitment.
We work with research, models, and data from external sustainability consultancy experts to calculate your carbon footprint.
We want your carbon footprint calculation to provide some insights into what drives your climate impact, while also being quick and easy to use.
Because of this, the first calculation you do assumes some average numbers when providing you with your footprint. You can then revisit the footprint and fine-tune it for each category to get even more accurate data.
We make the calculations from a life cycle perspective, which means we include emissions at all stages of the product’s life cycle, from production to recycling or incineration. You can find more information in our methodology.
It’s really important to us that you can trust this calculation, but there are many interconnected parameters, and sometimes there’s a bug. Please let us know if you find oddities in your calculation.
It’s a collective unit for all greenhouse gases that contribute to your carbon footprint. Fossil combustion primarily gives rise to carbon dioxide, but other greenhouse gases exist. Methane, for instance, is a potent greenhouse gas that cows produce a lot of.
It’s more short-lived than carbon dioxide but has a greenhouse effect that’s around 30 times higher. To include the impact of all greenhouse gases into one measure, they’re converted to carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2e).
There’s both good news and bad news in estimating what a sustainable carbon footprint level per person and year would be.
Let’s start with the bad news: Unfortunately, there’s no universally agreed upon number here. This is due to several reasons, such as the uncertainties in predicting future pathways, whether it’s the footprint by 2030 or 2050, or whether it’s in line with the 1.5°C or 2°C temperature goal of the Paris Agreement.
Time for the good news! There’s plenty of studies out there that have done some estimations. The sustainable level we use in the app is the global per capita carbon footprint needed by 2050 to align with the 1.5°C goal of the Paris Agreement. So, how did we end up with 1 tonne CO2e per person and year then? It’s an estimation based on several public and academic sources that estimate the sustainable footprint to be anything from 1 tonne CO2e and 1.1 tonnes CO2e to “as far below 2 tonnes CO2e as possible” and even 0.7 tonnes CO2e.
Data and Privacy
In the Deedster Public app, you just need a name; there is no need to create an account with your email. When using Deedster with a company license, you need to register an email address with us to enter a challenge that’s unique to your company.
Users in your team can see how many deeds you’ve done and the CO2e-saving and/or Impact Points connected to those deeds. We will not reveal your footprint to anyone in the app or to a third party.
When you sign up as a user, you agree that we share your name and email address with your employer as per our Terms and Conditions. This way, the project team at your company will know who’s been able to join and who might need some help onboarding.
What we won’t share with your employer, though, is your carbon footprint. This is because we think it’s essential that you as a user feel that your personal data is safe with us. Instead, we aggregate footprint data when it’s shared with your employer.
Glad you asked! They can be found here.
Yes, we do. And you find it right here.
Deedster for your Employees and your Customers
Yes, our Deedster Retail is an option to engage your customers and build long-lasting relationships. We have engaged customers in several banks and financial institutions, including SEB Baltics, who recently launched their “My Footprint” app.
Through this stand-alone white-labeled Deedster Retail solution, SEB Baltics offer long-term climate engagement to their customers and support their shift to more sustainable lifestyles. Watch the Press Brief here or read the case study here.
Reach out to us for more details and specifics.
Deedster Retail is one of our services for banks and financial institutions that seek to engage their customers, build relationships, encourage greener habits and put PFM into a climate context.
Our transaction-based footprint calculator lets your customers connect their payment transactions and automatically calculate their lifestyle footprint based on the latest climate change data.
So instead of only looking at historical data, our carbon tracker calculator projects the climate impact based on how you consume today and tomorrow because how you choose to act right now matters.
Reach out to us for more details because the implementation process depends on the scope of the work.
Our gamified solution seamlessly integrates into your platform and automatically calculates and gives your customers details on every transaction.
This process alone is super engaging and fun, plus the aha moment quiz lessons, which suggest everyday climate actions based on their lifestyle that they can make to switch to greener habits gradually. For more information, visit our Deedster Retail page.
Yes, our Deedster at Work is tailor-made to build teams and engage your employees. We do this through thrilling company challenges that can be adapted to fit any team or organization to raise climate awareness and promote greener habits.
Plus, your team or organization can be a part of our long-term engagement program that spans over the years with our Deedster Sustainability Program. For more information, visit our Deedster at Work page.
- Our employee engagement tool enables you to calculate your carbon footprint by answering questions about your lifestyle and provides suggestions of greener habits to decrease the impact your lifestyle has on the planet.
- We also offer tailored quizzes with business-specific insights based on the latest climate research, educating your entire organization.
- And to top it all off, we make it fun with gamification!
Sure. Feel free to download it here and try it out with a friend or two. Don’t forget to reach out if you have questions or wish to have such challenges for your team.
Deedster Retail and Deedster White-Labeling Services
If you are using an app distributed by someone other than Deedster, you should first turn to the FAQ and support provided by that party. But if you still feel lost, never hesitate to contact support@deedster.com, and we’ll be happy to help.
If you are using a service hosted by someone other than Deedster, you should first turn to the FAQ and support provided by that party. If you still feel lost, never hesitate to contact support@deedster.com, and we’ll gladly assist you.
Deedster Sustainability Program/Deedster at Work
We have a mission to get everyone to do something for the climate every day. Luckily, your workplace has now made it their mission too!
Join your colleagues in taking action for the climate through themed challenges in the Deedster app. Just imagine the speed with which you can transition to a more sustainable life when you are doing it together!
And why not prove to your colleagues who’s the boss, while at it?
So put your game face on and compete with your colleagues in doing the most climate-friendly deeds.
In the Deedster app, we’ll take you on a sustainability journey across three levels: Awareness, Knowledge, and Action.
- Awareness—The Footprint Calculator
First, you’ll get to answer questions about your consumption. Based on your replies, we’ll present you with a calculation of your carbon footprint. By increasing our awareness of the kind of impact we have on the environment, we can take the first steps towards improving it!
- Knowledge—The Quiz
Second, you head to the challenge view and get to the ‘gamification’ part of Deedster. Each challenge consists of several stations, and your job is to go island-hopping from one station to the next. At each stop along the way, you’ll get to answer several climate- and sustainability-related multiple-choice questions. Knowledge is power, after all.
- Action—The Deeds
You’ve got the awareness, you’ve got the knowledge, now all that’s left is the most important part: It’s time to take action! And once you’ve answered the quiz questions in a station, you’ll get to do just that. Based on your user profile, we’ll suggest a selection of deeds for you to do, and all you’ve got to do is save them, go to the deeds view, and get deedin’! We almost dare to promise that you will find a deed that is both fun and saves CO2e!
Whether you’re onboarding through a company-specific landing page or through an email send out, these five simple steps to start using Deedster are the same:
- Download the Deedster app for iPhone or Android.
- Open the app and join the challenge with your invitation code.
- Register with your work email and get a link to sign in instantly!
- Answer questions about your lifestyle to calculate your carbon footprint.
- Head to the Challenges tab to do quizzes and unlock Deeds to complete!
Probably the most important question of this FAQ, right? There are several ways in which you can score points to win in the Deedster app:
- Deeds
The most common way to compete in Deedster is based on your team’s average number of deeds. The way to win doesn’t get easier than this, just get on out there and do the deeds. And here’s a hot tip for you: some deeds can be saved as habits, meaning you can do them every day!
- CO2e saved
An alternative way to win a challenge is by being the team that saves the most CO2e. Here you’ve got to keep an eye out for those big-impact deeds (hint: Green is Clean, and No Fossil for Old Fossils are a must if you’re looking to win in the “most CO2e saved” category).
- Impact points
The latest addition to the Deedster family of ways to win, probably the most confusing, is impact points. We know that there are other ways to make the planet a better place to live than saving CO2e, so we’re introducing impact points as the next step to a Deedster Challenge.
It’s a point system entirely of our own invention, where we’ve created a scheme that grants deeds points according to how large an impact it has on other aspects of sustainability, such as biodiversity and water, as well as the influence it can have on other people. And, of course, the CO2e saving boosts the impact points of a deed as well.
Support
We constantly work to make our app and service better, so we really appreciate your feedback. It can be anything from things that don’t work, don’t work very well, work really well, or just happy shouts and fun ideas. We really do like to talk about Deedster… The easiest way to get in touch is to email our support line directly at support@deedster.com.
The Deedster App
Keen to give Deedster app a go? Just follow this link from your phone to try the app out!
Please check out our release notes