"Climate Buddy" app from Karlsruhe: playfully saving CO2 and reducing your footprint

Since August, the CO2 app“Climate Buddy” has been helping its users to reduce their carbon footprint in everyday life – and relies on gamification. The app has been available in the stores of Apple and Google for free download. The app, initiated by the Baden-Württemberg Climate Protection Foundation, was developed by the Karlsruhe-based company kr3m. karlsruhe.digital is enthusiastic about the idea of playfully promoting climate awareness in everyday life and, of course, about the fact that the app was developed here. That’s why we tested Klima Buddy and spoke to the developers.

“Before we start, we’ll give you an animal gift…” – These are the words with which the “Climate Buddy” app greets us, after which a little long-eared owl hatches from the egg on the screen in front of us. It and its environment are threatened by climate change, which is why it naturally has a great interest in us all finally taking action. From now on, the little owl will therefore be our “climate buddy” and help us in a playful way to make our everyday lives more climate-friendly.

We start by determining our individual carbon footprint using questions that ask about our habits and thus quantify our CO2 consumption. “How do you travel every day?”, “How often do you fly?”, “What do you put on your plate?” and “How do you live?” are some of the questions we answer for our Climate Buddy. In the end, we end up with 6.5 tons of C02 per year. Ok, that definitely puts us in the nerd category, because the average carbon footprint in Germany is 10.8 tons.

Small changes, big impact and of course there are rewards

But of course we can do even more. After all, no one should rest on their laurels and instead look for untapped savings potential that we have not yet thought of. Under “My missions”, we can find out what we can change in our everyday lives to save CO2 – for example, buying food from the region, leaving the car parked for three days for short journeys or installing a power strip with a toggle switch to save electricity. The missions are deliberately designed so that they do not impose too many restrictions and are easy to implement. At the same time, they make it clear to us that even small changes in our lifestyle can have a big impact in terms of CO2 savings. Once again, the devil is in the detail. Admittedly, this is nothing new, but the ideas are deliberately designed to be easy to implement and not to point the finger.

Apart from that, saving with the app is also fun, because as soon as we have completed the first two missions, there are already big “CaRMA” points under “My Climate Buddy” and thus the first gift – a bag of food for our little long-eared owl, who is clearly delighted. As you reach each new level, new rewards are unlocked, which can be items of clothing or interactions with our Climate Buddy.

“Climate Buddy” is not a classic CO2 calculator

“The CO2 app “Klima Buddy” emerged from a call for tenders by the state of Baden-Württemberg, which was, however, quite general. “Initially, it was just about a CO2 calculator or a climate app,” explains Jan Reichert, Managing Director of kr3m Media GmbH from Karlsruhe, the company responsible for developing the app. “We then researched what was already available on the market – and discovered that such apps often only have a small number of downloads. In principle, they all have a similar structure: You can calculate your carbon footprint and get tips and instructions on how to save CO2. However, this also means that, to a certain extent, you are instructed on how to behave every time you use the app. This obviously doesn’t go down well with users.”

So the kr3m team, which specializes in gamification, thought about how to make such an app more fun so that people would enjoy using it. The result was the idea of a virtual pet, the “Climate Buddy”. But which animal has what it takes to be a Climate Buddy? “There were lots of ideas and suggestions, but in the end the choice fell on the long-eared owl,” says Reichert. “On the one hand, it’s a native species that is considered endangered, and on the other hand, owls are consistently likeable animals that can be visualized in an appealing way. And very importantly, they are not pests.” For this reason, the decision was made against the beaver, for example, as it also causes damage to the local cultural landscape.

“Climate Buddy” should first and foremost be fun

Unlike other CO2 calculators, the “Climate Buddy” focuses on the fun factor. The app is designed to “playfully help people calculate their own carbon footprint, save energy and make their own lives more climate-friendly,” says Christoph Dahl, Managing Director of the Baden-Württemberg Foundation, under whose umbrella the Baden-Württemberg Climate Protection Foundation is based. “We deliberately chose this approach in order to motivate rather than patronize.”

For this reason, the decision was made to use rounded values when calculating the CO2 footprint. For a detailed calculation, you would not only have to ask how someone eats or gets to work, for example, but also track every meal and every kilometer driven. “Ultimately, however, the app is primarily intended to be fun and encourage people to think and perhaps make a change or two to their personal lifestyle,” emphasizes Jan Reichert.

Incidentally, everyone is invited to contribute to the further development of the app. The app was deliberately designed so that further tips and tricks for a climate-friendly everyday life can be added. For this reason, interested users now have the opportunity to send in their contributions to the design of the app.

The “Climate Buddy” app can be downloaded free of charge from the AppStore and GooglePlay.