Cogo partners with Hungarian bank OTP to tackle carbon emissions

Carbon Tracking Company Cogo recruited its first financial services partner in Central Europe after completing a start-up program organized by a Hungarian bank OTP.

After completing the Startup Booster program, hosted by OTP Bank’s Innovation Center, Cogo is one of 12 tech startups chosen to help develop future banking solutions and will now run two pilot programs.

Using Cogo’s carbon footprint technology, a pilot project will allow up to 10,000 of the bank’s retail customers to see their carbon footprint, based on their individual spending data. A second pilot will involve Cogo and OTP working together to develop a solution to help SME customers measure and reduce their carbon footprint.

OTP Sustainability Efforts

OTP has been publishing a sustainability report since 2015; the first green loan framework approved by the Hungarian supervisory authority was produced by OTP; and the bank secured a leading share in the green housing program in terms of contract volumes.

Its partnership with Cogo is the next step in OTP’s sustainability journey, giving retail and corporate clients better tracking of their carbon emissions, adding to the bank’s overall appeal for the eco-conscious. .

Emma Kisby, Cogo’s EMEA CEO, describes the collaboration as an “exciting opportunity for Cogo and OTP to lead a new wave of sustainable innovation in the Hungarian banking industry”.

She says: Using Cogo’s carbon tracking expertise for OTP is an important first step in enabling everyone to live and spend greener – using their purchasing power to influence change. . As the leading financial services partner in Central Europe, we are excited to see how our solutions can be adapted and scaled to meet the needs of the Hungarian market.

“Being part of the OTP Startup Booster program with OTP gives us a wonderful opportunity to see how customers and businesses are responding to integrating carbon tracking data into their banking services. I hope these two pilots can bring better climate understanding to customers and businesses, starting a green banking revolution for Hungary.

Picking Cogo

According to OTP, the “instrumentality” of Cogo’s solution proved “indispensable even at first sight”.

Gergo Szathmari, Head of Innovation Management CoE at OTP LAB, comments: “OTP Group sees exceptional value in working with innovative companies. Cogo’s industry-leading technology and solution provides us with extremely valuable data and insights to help us build a more sustainable future for all.

“Not only does this help educate our colleagues and customers about their carbon footprint, but also help us understand and measure our own carbon emissions and their impact on the climate. We hope that our collaboration with Cogo will serve as an example in the Central European market, paving the way for the future of green banking.

Cogo is on track to have more than 3 million banking customers using its carbon management features by the end of 2022. It currently works with seven of the world’s largest banks, including Commbank (Australia), NatWest (UK) and ING (Netherlands) and currently helps more than one million customers worldwide track their carbon footprint.