“But It’s What You Asked For!”

NatWest has been accused of 'intrusion' after starting a new function that combs customers' accounts to track their carbon footprint.

A 'Carbon Footprint Tracker' on the bank's mobile app uses transaction data of its customers to make suggestions on how to reduce their carbon footprint based on their shopping habits.

More fool anyone who selected the setting to turn this aspect on, then! 

According to The Telegraph, the bank told customers to consider fixing their clothing instead of buying new items, and start drinking plant-based alternatives to dairy milk. The bank also urged customers to share car journeys, wash clothes in cold water and turn off tumble dryers.

Yes, as I suspected, the usual pointless stuff designed to make you feel virtuous while actually doing nothing at all when set against actual climate reality. Still, if it's what people want, right..? 

One customer, Faith Scott, said she thought the bank's carbon footprint calculator was an 'intrusion'. 'We don't need all this preaching to us. I don't take flights hither and thither. I grow my own vegetables and make my own food,' she said.

So, Faith, did NatWest hijack your phone and force this setting on you? Reader, what do you think? 

A NatWest spokesperson said: 'Customers tell us they want to take action to live more sustainably, and to save money at the same time on things like energy bills, but they don't aways know where to begin. The Carbon Footprint Tracker is an opt-in feature in our app that helps customers to see the carbon impact of their spending, at an aggregated level, and provides tips and suggestions to reduce this and to help them to save money too. If a customer opts-in, they can then opt-out at any point in settings in the Insights section of the app'.

Always RTFM, Faith...