The document describes CarbonR-a, an R programming language project that aims to nudge Monzo banking app users to offset the carbon emissions from their flights by calculating flight carbon offsets and presenting suggestions to donate to offsetting programs. It provides details on how the project would work including using the Monzo API to access flight transaction data, calculating distances and emissions, and adding messages about offsets to the Monzo feed. It concludes by considering next steps like donations and calling on people to take action on climate change.

1. It’s all going to be fine
Monzo, Carbon-R-a, and the end of the world

2. Who
We build mobile products. We are very good at it.
Head of Product at Novoda
Useless, but at scale
I’m a generalist amongst specialists
Twitter is killing us all slowly
@rynbtmn
Github profiles are a poor indicator of your worth as a developer
@ryanbateman

3. Climate change and refugees

4. CarbonR-a
An R hack project
intended to nudge users
to carbon-offset their flights

5. CarbonR-a
An R hack project
intended to nudge users
to carbon-offset their flights
This is it.
This is the whole
thing.

6. CarbonR-a
An R hack project
intended to nudge users
to carbon-offset their flights

7. R
A language for data-science, statistical
analysis,
and graphical visualisation

8. R: example 1
10 years of
financial data
painstakingly
extracted from
a legacy bank

9. R: example 2
Histogram of
spending by
category

10. Map tiles by Stamen Design, under CC BY 3.0.
Data by OpenStreetMap, under ODbL.
R: example 3
Monzo card use
density map

11. CarbonR-a
An R hack project
intended to nudge users
to carbon-offset their flights

12. Nudge theory
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/014311526X/

13. Nudge theory
Examples include:
• Auto-savings schemes
• (Good) app ratings prompts
• Political influence campaigns
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/014311526X/

14. CarbonR-a
An R hack project
intended to nudge users
to carbon-offset their flights

15. Carbon offsetting
Offsetting of personal carbon emission caused by everyday use
through payments to
a scheme invested in, for example, renewable energy
~£8 / 1 tonne of carbon
See: https://www.myclimate.org/fileadmin/myc/files_myc_perf/12_flight_calculator_documentation_EN.pdf
Flight emission kgs = (𝑎𝑥2 + 𝑏𝑥 + 𝑐)/(𝑆 × 𝑃𝐿𝐹) × (1 − 𝐶𝐹) × 𝐶𝑊 × (𝐸𝐹 × 𝑀 + 𝑃)
Distance,
given fixed
take-off/landing cost
Avg. Seats x
Passenger Load Factor
Cargo factor
Cabin Class
Weighting
Fuel type, pre-flight fuel costs

16. CarbonR-a
An R hack project
intended to nudge users
to carbon-offset their flights

17. How?
…
"notes": "Booking reference L58JJQ",
"metadata": {
"carrier_code": "OE",
"city_of_destination_airport_code": "CFU",
"city_of_origin_airport_code": "LHR",
"customer_code": "XXXXX",
"ledger_insertion_id": "XXXXXXX",
"mastercard_auth_message_id": "XXXXXXX",
"mastercard_lifecycle_id": "XXXXXXXX",
"notes": "Booking reference XXXXXXX",
"travel_date": “XXXXXXXX"
}
…
Monzo introduced some flight
data recently

18. Callflow
MONZOCARBONRA
Webhook fires new flight transaction
Look up airports’ lat/lon
Calculate Haversine distance
Calculate carbon emissions
Create new feed item

19. How?
calculateOffset <- function(startAirport = NULL, endAirport = NULL) {
airports <- read.csv("data/airports.csv", sep = ",")
airports <- airports[which(airports$iata_code %in% c(startAirport, endAirport)), ]
startAirport <- airports[which(airports$iata_code == startAirport), ]
endAirport <- airports[which(airports$iata_code == endAirport), ]
distance <- distHaversine(
c(startAirport$latitude_deg, startAirport$longitude_deg),
c(endAirport$latitude_deg, endAirport$longitude_deg)
)
costPerKilogram = 0.008
AverageSeatNumber = 158.44
PassengerLoadFactor = 0.77
DetourConstant = 50
InverseCargoFactor = 0.951
EconomyClassWeight = 0.960
EmissionFactor = 3.150
PreProduction = 0.51
Multiplier = 2
a = 0.0000387871
b = 2.9866
c = 1263.42
emissions <- ((a*distance^2 + b*distance + c) / (AverageSeatNumber *
PassengerLoadFactor)) * InverseCargoFactor * EconomyClassWeight *
(EmissionFactor * Multiplier + PreProduction)

20. How?
calculateOffset <- function(startAirport = NULL, endAirport = NULL) {
airports <- read.csv("data/airports.csv", sep = ",")
airports <- airports[which(airports$iata_code %in% c(startAirport, endAirport)), ]
startAirport <- airports[which(airports$iata_code == startAirport), ]
endAirport <- airports[which(airports$iata_code == endAirport), ]
distance <- distHaversine(
c(startAirport$latitude_deg, startAirport$longitude_deg),
c(endAirport$latitude_deg, endAirport$longitude_deg)
)
costPerKilogram = 0.008
AverageSeatNumber = 158.44
PassengerLoadFactor = 0.77
DetourConstant = 50
InverseCargoFactor = 0.951
EconomyClassWeight = 0.960
EmissionFactor = 3.150
PreProduction = 0.51
Multiplier = 2
a = 0.0000387871
b = 2.9866
c = 1263.42
emissions <- ((a*distance^2 + b*distance + c) / (AverageSeatNumber *
PassengerLoadFactor)) * InverseCargoFactor * EconomyClassWeight *
(EmissionFactor * Multiplier + PreProduction)

21. How?
calculateOffset <- function(startAirport = NULL, endAirport = NULL) {
airports <- read.csv("data/airports.csv", sep = ",")
airports <- airports[which(airports$iata_code %in% c(startAirport, endAirport)), ]
startAirport <- airports[which(airports$iata_code == startAirport), ]
endAirport <- airports[which(airports$iata_code == endAirport), ]
distance <- distHaversine(
c(startAirport$latitude_deg, startAirport$longitude_deg),
c(endAirport$latitude_deg, endAirport$longitude_deg)
)
costPerKilogram = 0.008
AverageSeatNumber = 158.44
PassengerLoadFactor = 0.77
DetourConstant = 50
InverseCargoFactor = 0.951
EconomyClassWeight = 0.960
EmissionFactor = 3.150
PreProduction = 0.51
Multiplier = 2
a = 0.0000387871
b = 2.9866
c = 1263.42
emissions <- ((a*distance^2 + b*distance + c) / (AverageSeatNumber *
PassengerLoadFactor)) * InverseCargoFactor * EconomyClassWeight *
(EmissionFactor * Multiplier + PreProduction)

22. How?
addItemToFeed(title = cat("Offset your flight to ", dest$name),
itembody = cat("Offsetting the flight would cost ", offsetCost),
image_url = “https://carbonra.example.com/icon”,
background_colour = "#ff00ff")
}

23. CarbonR-a
…so now what?
- use Pots to save for donations?
- build item URL for easier donation?
- a cause-related nudge program across all
transactions?
- build an ark?
I don’t know.

24. Let’s fucking do something then
I’ll be donating £1000 and
matching donations up to £3000.
Send donation receipt/email to @rynbtmn or ryan.bateman@gmail.com

25. Thanks!
Monzor, the R Monzo API library: http://github.com/ryanbateman/monzor
Novoda: www.novoda.com
Send donation receipt/email to @rynbtmn or ryan.bateman@gmail.com
These slides: https://goo.gl/Z24fqR