Dutch bank ING is offering its clients the option of monitoring the environmental impact of their spending via their bank statements from Thursday, following a similar move made by Rabobank in April.

ING is offering the information to 350,000 clients who use its banking app and who have opted for an enhanced service giving them more insight into their spending patterns. If the trial is successful, it will be expanded to include more of the bank’s customers.

The carbon dioxide emissions are calculated on the basis of monthly expenditure in different categories such as ‘groceries’, ‘transport’ and ‘restaurants and bars’ and shown in the bank’s app.

‘Limiting our own footprint is essential, but as a bank we are ambitious and we realize that we make the biggest impact together with all our customers,’ said Léon Wijnands, sustainability director at ING Netherlands. ‘With this new feature, we hope to inspire our customers to make climate-conscious choices.’

In addition to insight into their own CO2 emissions, clients can also receive tips and compare their results with those of the national average.