Personal climate activism made easy with the Volvo Group´s CO2 calculator

Personal climate activism made easy with the Volvo Group´s CO2 calculator

In connection with the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, the Volvo
Group unveiled Commute Greener, a service which transforms your mobile phone
into a personal CO2 calculator with connections to Social Networks like
Facebook. People world-wide have already started using the service and are
competing to reduce CO2 emissions. The most frequent CO2 reduction target set by
the users is 20%, which is equivalent to changing your commuting behaviour
during one working day per week. 

After signing up for the service, it is easy for commuters to use their mobile
phones, or a web site, to keep track of how much CO2 emissions are reduced, or
increased, using different means of transportation, for example car, car pooling
or bus. Tests show that individuals can be motivated to cut their CO2 emissions
by 30% when using Commute Greener. 

“We immediately received positive feedback from the people on the streets of
Copenhagen. People appreciate the possibility to use their mobile phones to
reduce their personal carbon footprint and contribute to a positive change in
commuting behavior,” says Magnus Holmqvist, Commute Greener´s managing director.
  
The story behind Commute Greener begins in 2008, when an employee at Volvo IT´s
Innovation Centre came up with the simple idea of an application for mobile
phones that calculates the user's carbon emissions while travelling. 

“It was initially planned as an internal initiative to further enhance our work
within environmental care. We wanted to come up with a new and fun way to
involve our own people in dealing with climate change. Selling the service
outside the Volvo Group was a very distant idea,” Magnus Holmqvist recalls.

After internal tests and an internal launch, this idea is now in the process of
becoming reality. Commute Greener is being launched to external companies,
cities and to individuals around the world.

“Companies save money, as their employees take the most effective means of
transport rather than getting caught in traffic jams. The environment benefits
and the burden on the road network is reduced”, says Magnus Holmqvist.

Holmqvist believes it is only natural that the Volvo Group, the world´s second
largest producer of heavy-duty trucks, is launching a service like Commute
Greener.

“We are part of the problem of carbon emissions, but we are also part of the
solution. We have the expertise to create modern transport solutions for the
whole of society,” he concludes.

Facts about Commute Greener

•	Commute Greener is accessed through a mobile phone or an Internet web site
•	A commuter who downloads the application can use the mobile telephone to
register the methods of transport that are used for commuting. The application
calculates how much carbon dioxide emissions are reduced or increased using
different means of transportations, for example bus, car, car pooling, train,
boat or bicycle. The application also contains examples of the impact you can
make, such as the fact that it takes a tree one month to absorb a kilo of CO2.
•	The service provides an online community for exchanging experience and for
competitions between colleagues, friends and family members about the possible
size of reductions in carbon dioxide emissions
•	A GPS function opens the possibility to compare the size of CO2 emissions on
different routes and using different means of transport 
•	At present, individuals can download Commute Greener as an application for the
iPhone from the Apple App Store. To download the application to other mobile
phones, a city, company or organisation first need to order access for its
inhabitants, customers or employees
•	So far, Commute Greener has registered users in the US, France, UK, Ireland,
Australia, Japan, Sweden and elsewhere around the world. 

More information about Commute Greener is available at the following web site:
http://www.CommuteGreener.com/. 

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December 18, 2009
Reporters who would like more information should contact:

Anders Vilhelmsson, Media Relations Manager, Volvo IT, tel +46 31 322 38 79,
e-mail anders.vilhelmsson@volvo.com
Marjorie Meyers, Director, Corporate & Online Communications, Volvo Group North
America, tel +1 646 2468606, e-mail marjorie.meyers@volvo.com

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Volvo Information Technology AB is a wholly owned subsidiary of AB Volvo. The
company delivers IT solutions and services for the whole of the industrial
process, from product development and production to sales, aftersales and
administration, including IT operations and infrastructure. Its customers
include AB Volvo, Ford Motor Company, Volvo Car Corporation and other large
operations within industry and the public sector. In 2008, Volvo IT's global
operations generated a turnover of SEK 8.7 billion and the company had more than
5,300 employees in Europe, North America, South America and Asia. Please visit
www.volvoit.com for more information.