Well designed and implemented community currencies encourage businesses to adopt more sustainable practices. This can be done in numerous ways, with different objectives requiring different types of currency.
Reward currencies can incentivise the purchase of more sustainable products among consumers: points earned when making a purchase can be redeemed as a discount the next time a sustainable product is bought.
This in turn incentivises businesses to stock more of such commodities. Reward schemes can also target businesses or public institutions directly by providing access to growing networks of ethical consumers for organisations that switch to more sustainable practices, or incentivising public bodies to adopt sustainability criteria into their procurement processes.
Local currencies can encourage sustainability by tracing back through production and supply chains and encouraging potential local suppliers to join the scheme. This provides opportunities for businesses as well as consumers to spend locally when sourcing materials and products, reducing carbon emissions generated by transportation of goods.
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