Frequently Asked Questions

Once registered, you can choose to receive weekly email or SMS reminders about the actions you selected. We ask for your email address and mobile number so that those reminders can be sent.

Your household income is used to estimate your initial carbon footprint, which is calculated using average household spending on different products and services. Your footprint is tailored to you based on the answers you provide.

Yes, your income and all other personal information you provide is kept confidential. Details that are publicly available on the FutureFit leaderboards include your name and carbon footprint. A selection of people's names and recent actions also display on the 'Who's getting FutureFit' section on the home page.

The things that really drive up your carbon footprint are air travel and eating red meat. You can see a breakdown of your carbon footprint by clicking on the hyperlinked titles: transport, power, food and living from your dashboard. The carbon methodology and model underpinning FutureFit uses data provided by the Motu Economic and Public Policy Research Institute. There are assumptions made about your spending habits based on your household income. You can read more about Our Carbon Calculations here.

Your Carbon Footprint estimates the impact of your lifestyle. It shows you the amount of carbon emissions you produce each year, based on what you have told us about how you get around, where you travel to, how you power your home, what you choose to eat, and what you buy. (Negative values will not appear in your footprint pie chart if you are offsetting your emissions). Your carbon footprint is dynamic meaning it updates in real-time. As you complete actions through your weekly reminder, or when you choose ‘I do this now’ for actions on the Actions page, your carbon savings will be applied and your carbon footprint will automatically update. Check out our About page to see how your carbon footprint is measured or Our Carbon Calculations page to find out more.

On the FutureFit website click 'get started' and answer all the questions. Once you have answered the Basic Questions you will be able to sign up and create an account. If you choose to continue on and answer the Next Level questions, which will give you a more accurate carbon footprint, you can also Sign Up after answering those questions. After completing the registration process you will be sent an activation email. Once your email address has been verified you will be up and running on FutureFit.

If you sign up using Facebook or a Google gmail address you will not receive an activation email. If you sign up using another email address you should have received one. Check your junk email folders as it may be in there. If it doesn't arrive we suggest trying to sign up again, and if you are still having trouble let us know.

Completing the Basic Questions will give you a general overview of your carbon footprint. The Next Level questions allow you to provide more details about your lifestyle, helping to create a more accurate carbon footprint. Actions that are suggested to you will be more tailored if you complete the Next Level questions.

We understand it can be tricky to estimate your total household income in a shared living environment where you may not know your flatmates' income. It may be helpful to search what the average Auckland income is, by profession, and use this figure to estimate your flatmates' income.

Some actions may be easier to do if you own your home. If you rent your home, you may need to contact your landlord beforehand. We have indicated which actions this may relate to by using a house icon on the Actions page.

We don't reccomend changing the answers you initially provided in the FutureFit questions. However, if circumstances in your life have changed (for example another child, change in income, significant change in vehicle use or flights) you can edit your answers to the Basic and Next Level questions through the Shortcuts tab on the left-hand side of your dashboard. If you had only completed the Basic Questions, your change in answers update your carbon footprint automatically. If you completed the Basic and Next Level questions, you can edit the Next Level questions and your carbon footprint will update. The only questions you will be able to update in the Basic questions which would update your carbon footprint is the question relating to your income, and question relating to the number of people in your household.

If the ceiling and floor are insulated then answer ‘yes’. This is considered to be the minimum requirement. If not, (i.e. only the ceiling is insulated), answer ‘no’.

Your carbon footprint is being updated in real-time as you answer the FutureFit questions. However, there is sometimes a lag in the website response time while you are answering the questions. This means you might only see your footprint update after every few questions.

FutureFit tailors the actions you're suggested based on the answers you provide in both the Basic and Next Level questions. However, you may be suggested actions you were not asked about. If this is something you already do, you can select 'I do this now' button, then you will be credited the carbon savings associated with that action. Your carbon footprint will automatically update with those carbon savings in real-time. If you don't currently and would like to try this action, then select the 'I want to do this' button, and this will be added to your weekly reminders.

If you haven't set up an action yet, a pop-up message will display every time you visit your dashboard prompting you to. The pop-up includes a link which takes you to the page where you set actions. You can also navigate to this page from your dashboard under Actions, or you can find it under 'Shortcuts' on the left-hand side of your dashboard.

For actions that are completed over time (for example taking the bus), you can select how often you would like to do them. They default to 'once a week', however you can change the drop down to 'twice a week' or more. If you currently do one of those actions (like carpool once a week) you can either increase the frequency by changing the drop down, then click the button 'I want to do this', or you can select 'I do this now' and you will get the carbon saving for that action.

Once you have selected actions you will receive weekly email or SMS reminders, depending on the preference you have chosen. Reminders are sent every Monday. The message will list all your chosen actions and you can select the ones that you completed that week. By doing this you will automatically receive the carbon savings associated with those actions, which will reduce your carbon footprint. Weekly actions (like having a meat-free day once a week) cannot be completed from the website, however if you have incorporated an action into your lifestyle (for example you now have one meat-free day every week), you can visit the actions page on the website and either increase the frequency you would like to do it (for example to twice a week), or you can select the button 'I do this now'. By doing this you will also automatically receive the carbon saving and your carbon footprint will update.

The current FutureFit target is to get to reduce the average NZ carbon footprint to 5.3 tonnes by 2025. We have established a target that stretches to 2050, and has been broken down into 3-yearly targets. This was to create achievable targets which is why the 2025 target may seem low.

This is a measure of how engaged you are in making change each week. Your Future Fitness score shows how many actions you have completed that week, compared to how many you selected. For example if you set 4 actions and completed 2, your score will be 50%. It is a way of recognising progress on reducing your carbon impact. Your Future Fitness score will only display while you have reminders active, because the result is linked to the actions you complete every week. If your actions have finished but you want to continue, visit the actions page, select more actions and turn your reminders back on.

The carbon footprint showing on your dashboard is a result of the answers you provided to the Basic or Next Level questions. When you complete the actions you selected, your carbon footprint will automatically update in real-time. You will also be able to see how much carbon you saved that week, and so far. Underneath your carbon footprint it tells you what your carbon footprint was when you started (i.e. based on the questions you first answered). If you go back and change answers to the questions, this number will change. Your Future Fitness score is a measure of how many actions you completed for that week and will update once you complete your actions through your weekly reminder.

Your dashboard is dynamic meaning it updates in real time.

FutureFit is a individual carbon footprinting tool. However, to calculate this, we need to ask a number of questions that related to the household i.e. heating and energy use.

Every week you will receive an email or text which gives a summary of the actions or goals you have chosen. Reminders are sent every Monday. If you haven't received a reminder check your junk email folders, it might be in there. Also, check which reminder preference you selected (email or SMS text message) and the email address you provided. The number of weeks your reminders are set for can be changed on the Actions page.

From your dashboard click Team Challenge under Shortcuts. Here you can create a new team and invite people to join. You can also set up a team from your dashboard under the Teams section. Once you invite people they will receive and email with a invitation link. When they click the link, they are taken to the FutureFit website where they can Sign up (or Sign in if they have already created an account), then accept your invitation. Invited team members will display as 'pending' until they accept your invitation. Once accepted, this person will show on your team's page.

At the bottom of your dashboard you can challenge one of your friends to get FutureFit. Type their email address, click send, and they will receive information about Future Fit and how to take part. If you do want to compete against them, you'll need to create a team of 2.

Check your junk email folders, it might be in there. Another reason may be that the invitation was sent to a different email address (work/personal) or your email address may not have been entered correctly. Ask to be invited again, and if you still don't receive an email please let us know.

When someone invites you to join a team you will receive an email which has an invitation link. That links takes you to the FutureFit website where you can Sign in (if you have already created an account) or Sign up. If you have registered using your personal email address, but the invitation has been sent to your work email address, that's okay! When you log in using your personal email address you will still be added to the team. If you'd like to change from using your personal email address to your work email address, you can update your email address in your profile settings.

Check out the instructions for How to Set up a Team above. If you are still having trouble please contact us.

Ask them to check their junk email folder, it might be in there. Or, the email address you entered may have not been correct. Ask them to confirm their email address and try inviting them again. If they still don't receive an invitation email, please contact us.

If you set up a team you can delete it by clicking on the Shortcuts tab, then clicking Team Challenge. You will see a list of all the teams you have created (and are a member of). Click the three vertical dots on the right-hand side of the page, then select 'delete team'. Once deleted, it will remove anyone who was a member of that team.

If you are a member of a team you can leave the team at any time. Click the Shortcuts tab, then click Team Challenge to see a list of all teams you are a member of. Click the three vertical dots on the right-hand side of the page, then select 'leave team'.

On your dashboard (at the bottom of the page) you can add a goal by clicking the '+' button. Or you can navigate to Goals though your Shortcuts on the left-hand side of your dashboard. Goals are targets that you want to complete. There are two types: you can decide how many kilograms of carbon you want to save each week or, aim to reduce your carbon footprint by a number of tonnes. Once you complete a goal you are rewarded with a badge which displays on your dashboard.

Badges are awarded when you complete a number of actions, achieve your goals and share FutureFit with your family and friends. They will display on your dashboard.

You will be able to select Leaderboard from the left-hand side of your dashboard under Shortcuts. You can see Individual and Team leaderboard, and can switch between This Week and All Time results.

The Individual and Teams leaderboard is ranked by who has saved the most carbon. You can switch between seeing results for This Week or All Time. If you want to change how the leaderboard is being ranked, you can choose from the headings at the top of the table. Results will change once you click on the heading.

You can contact us at hello@futurefit.nz.