Neste, an energy company, is on a transformation from oil refinery to a leader in renewable solutions. While working on Neste’s app, we found an insight: navigation systems provide the shortest or fastest route as default option – but not the most co2-friendly one, thus the wrong option for the environment.

Objectives:

1.To create the right partner ecosystem for this project. We needed partners which actively work in the field navigation so that the outcome can be implemented in practice through better algorithms.

2.To raise this significant insight globally and use it to drive a behavior change on an individual level by having drivers rethinking their routing choices and on a corporate level by bringing awareness to this issue to the automotive and satnav industry.

3.To help Neste with its positioning as a modern company reflecting its strategic transition from oil refinery to a global leader in renewable solutions.

The idea was driven by data and machine learning, yet was touching a topic relevant to most people - driving. A new finding, proven via an experiment, was at the core of the “Most CO2-friendly route project. With the help of data, we discovered that most navigation systems' default routes are not the most CO2-friendly ones. Meaning that navigation systems provide us the wrong option for the environment. We found that in 30% of the cases, sat navs don’t provide the most CO2-friendly route. Our idea was to emphasize that the default route choice is often a bad choice for the environment and bring it to the public to drive behavioral change and to inspire others to join us. Less than a year later, Google Maps followed and announced that it will start to implement more climate-friendly routing in its navigation services.

In order to have the CO2-friendly route becoming a norm, we needed strong partners with expertise. Based on the insight and idea, we created a strategic partnership with Here Technologies and PTV Group in Berlin (specializing in software and consulting services for traffic and transportation, mobility, and logistics) and VTT (the Technical Research Center of Finland) in Helsinki. We turned raw data into a concrete initiative. Our strategic approach is not only to talk about the future but bring actual solutions – like in this case, the most CO2-friendly route.

First, we gathered the raw data through OBD-readers installed in cars. We gathered over 50000 data points from the street of Helsinki. We shared the data with the partners and conducted a multiparameter analysis. After, we further simulated, tested, and scaled results with machine learning to ensure scalability. Lastly, we published the results and shared the findings with the public.

We created a strategic partnership with HERE Technologies, PTV (specializing in software and consulting services for traffic and transportation, mobility, and logistics), and VTT (the Technical Research Center of Finland) in order to turn the data insights into a concrete initiative – this took us one year. We gathered over 50 000 data points from the streets of Helsinki through OBD-readers installed in drivers' cars. The data were analyzed via multiparameter analysis. Machine learning was used to further scale the data and simulate the effect on traffic emissions. The experiment was conducted in Finland but was scaled to other cities such as SF and Stockholm. We launched our findings through a press release and made the research open through a website – this became global news immediately.

Results:

Strong PR visibility in Neste’s core markets helping Neste to be positioned in B2B and B2C context: reach 138 million, over 90 media hits, unique visitors totaled at 38 million. The coverage sentiment was positive. Less than a year later, Google Maps followed too and announced that it will change its routing logic towards CO2-friendly. People shared and rethought their driving routes in social media, eg. Twitter's reach of 100.000. Neste found new partners to help fighting climate change.

Findings:

In 30% of the cases, sat navs don’t provide the most CO2-friendly route. Always driving the most CO2-friendly route resulted in 6.36% fewer emissions, meaning almost 81000 tons of saved emissions in Helsinki region annually, equalling total emissions of 20000 inhabitants or the removal of 30000 passenger cars. When scaling these results, eg. savings of 100000 tons of CO2 emissions in SF and 54000 tons in Stockholm are possible.