Broxtowe Borough Council: Notts Green Rewards
The project
Green Rewards is an online platform using gamification techniques to incentivise and encourage residents to undertake positive environmental behaviour change. It allows residents to accumulate points for undertaking sustainable actions which contribute to the carbon reduction drive in Nottinghamshire.
It came about in October 2021 through a partnership currently comprised of six out of seven district councils in Nottinghamshire, its county council, Nottingham City Council, two universities and the platform creator Jump.
Residents use the platform to log their positive climate change actions, using an app or via computer, and can participate in monthly challenges to win points. Actions focus on six themes: travel; waste and recycling; energy and carbon; ‘getting involved’; purchasing and consumption; and biodiversity. There are 4-6 actions under each theme – for instance washing clothes at 30 degrees. Positive actions win points, with accumulated points contributing to householders’ places on a leader board. Prizes are on offer to two winners selected per district area each month.
The benefits
There are 5,604 Green Rewards members across the county. Residents have undertaken over 130,000 actions, which meant that 328 tonnes of carbon were not emitted.
Green Awards is also helping residents save money on their energy bills and the scheme offers users a 15% discount on Nottingham City Transport.
The platform has also been used to facilitate campaigns including Sustainability Month in which users managed to avoid the carbon equivalent of 45 London-New York return flights, a biodiversity photo competition and ‘Switch Off November’.
