With CopenPay, travelers could convert their climate-friendly actions into a currency that paid for cultural experiences in Copenhagen.

CopenPay rewarded sustainable actions such as cycling, participating in cleanup efforts or volunteering at urban farms with access to a variety of experiences in Copenhagen. This included complimentary guided museum tours, free kayak rentals and free vegetarian lunch cooked with local ingredients.

24 attractions took part in the initiative, each rewarding different types of green behavior.

For instance, visitors arriving at the National Gallery of Denmark with plastic waste were invited to a workshop to turn it into a piece of art. Similarly, taking public transport or a bike to Copenhagen's iconic heating plant Copenhill granted a pass to ski down the slope on the building’s roof.

The simplicity of the system allowed easy participation with tourists showing a train ticket, arriving on a bicycle, or presenting other simple proof of green actions to redeem their rewards.

“We must turn tourism from being an environmental burden into a force for positive change, and one important step in this transformation is to change how we move around on the destination, what we consume, and how we interact with the locals. With CopenPay, we want travelers as well as local attractions to focus on the change and the choices, we need to make” says Mikkel Aarø-Hansen, CEO at Wonderful Copenhagen.

Mikkel Aarø-Hansen also points out that “Since travelling is international, our success is dependent on the choices of people and destinations elsewhere. We therefore also strive to inspire sustainable behaviors and cultural appreciation worldwide.”

Learn more about how the initiative worked here.