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KLIMAFORSK-Stort program klima

Personal Overseas Research Grant: Local crowdfunding for a low-emission society

Awarded: NOK 0.10 mill.

Project Manager:

Project Number:

273471

Project Period:

2018 - 2018

Funding received from:

Location:

Partner countries:

The overseas research stay is related to the NFR-funded project 'Local crowdfunding for a low-emission society: Investigating the concept of local climate crowdfunding for Norway' (COOLCROWD), project nr. 268223/E10. Natalia Mæhle leads two work packages in this project: WP2.1: Lessons learned from existing climate crowdfunded projects; WP2.3: Developing alternative business models of climate crowdfunding in Norway. Dr. Huijben from the Eindhoven University of Technology is also involved in WP2.1 and WP2.3. Thus, Mæhle's research stay at the Eindhoven University of Technology will mostly relate to the research activities in these two WPs. COOLCROWD and the current application addresses KLIMAFORSK's call for a rapid transition to a sustainable, low-emission society by testing the concept of crowdfunding local climate reduction measures in Norway. Crowdfunding is a collective effort by people who pool their money together, usually via the internet, to invest in and support efforts initiated by other people or organizations. The current project aims to assess the potential for a locally crowdfunded system that enables Norwegian farmers to install climate-friendly technologies on their land and the Norwegian public to invest in local climate mitigation measures. We hypothesise that a local climate crowdfunding program could be a good way for the general public to compensate for some of the unavoidable emissions from the transport sector. While airlines in Norway provide the ability to purchase climate credits to cover carbon emissions, other sectors connected with transport (e.g. taxis, ferries) and on-line sales companies that use the transport sector to deliver packages, do not. In this project, we explore the potential of introducing a simple tool, which enables consumers to compensate for their carbon footprint while at the same time contributing to sustainable development in the local environment.

Funding scheme:

KLIMAFORSK-Stort program klima