The idea for the app - dubbed GreenR - came from mathematician Lorena Saenz de Alba as part of the bank's Intrapreneur Initiative. After pitching the idea, Saenz de Alba was assigned a team of five additional people, plus a coach, to design and create the app.

The team shaped the idea through Agile methodology, interviewed more than 100 people in and outside the bank to gauge interest in the app, and conducted the first sprint - a short, time-constrained period when a team works to complete a set amount of work - during which they created a road map for how the app would work.

They then had four weeks to determine legal, compliance and technology requirements, identify potential clients and create a marketing strategy.

In the second sprint, they worked with a tech team and project managers to narrow down the idea and shape it into a more tangible, creative prototype that they had to present in a five minute pitch to the Venture Board made up of Christian Sewing, Asoka Woehrmann, Christiana Riley, Frank Kuhnke, Manfred Knof, Bernd Leukert and an external angel investor.

With the back of the board, work continued on the prototype, which links directly to a clients' account and translates the last six months of bank transactions into how much C02 is consumed.

Once a pattern emerges, GreenR presents users with a set of challenges designed to reduce the C02 footprint by, for example, encouraging people to shop local, eat less meat and cycle more. Carbon offsetting options are also presented to frequent flyers.

“Typically you have the option to donate to specific environmental projects to offset your C02 output. This is money you won’t see again,” says Saenz de Alba. “Our idea is to instead have a range of investments focused on environmental projects that, for example, help to reduce C02 or to reforest, so you’re getting both an economic and an environmental return. And the money you’re investing comes from the savings you’ve made by making small, environmentally-friendly changes in your behaviour.”

The pandemic has halted the early progress made on the app, with the team having to work remotely to further hone the product.

Saenz de Alba believes the eventual end-product will be fit for a post-pandemic, more environmentally conscious and digitally-focused world.

“GreenR isn’t just about getting people to invest in our products and being more environmentally conscious, it’s also a rare opportunity to understand the needs of this generation and to learn from them,” she says. “Digital on-demand services are part of this generation’s DNA, and digital banking products are becoming more popular also. If Deutsche Bank can be a part of this evolution, we can strengthen the close relationships we have with our clients.

“Being able to offer services like GreenR will help us attract more of those clients that we’re not reaching at the moment - and help us become even more relevant to this specific client segment.”