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We've come to picture-book Bavaria. "Thank you very much." "Here you go." "Cheers." "But there's something unusual about this town. There's one. There's another one. There are these stickers everywhere.". saying that you can pay with "Chiemgauers". People in this and some other nearby towns have invented their own money. And it's supposed to be better than the Euro. "And the best part is: I was told there's a way to get this money for free. Almost." One way to get your hands on it is by booking this car.
It's a shared one. It costs 54 euros, or 62 US dollars, to rent for the day. And it's my ticket into the world of the Chiemgauer. "Hello." "I would like to collect my Chiemgauer. So I've signed up for carsharing. How much do I get for this? How many Chiemgauers?" "You get 50 Chiemgauer." "50? Alright." Christian Gelleri invented this new cash and heads the group that oversees it. "Here is the backoffice.
Now, you can see here." "Wow, that's a lot of money." "200,000 Chiemgauers." Worth the same amount in euros, or more than 230,000 US dollars. ". Fifty. And that's the 50 Chiemgauer. Have fun with shopping." "Thank you very much. I'm rich! Rich in Chiemgauers." Full disclosure: Usually you have to register before you get your money - we didn't have to. Plus, you actually need to use carsharing ten times before you get your one-off reward. And that's what the banknotes look like coming fresh from the printer - with infrared and watermark protection, just like official banknotes.
Still, it looks a bit like play money to me. And actually, that's kind of how it all started. Twenty-four years ago, Gelleri taught economics at a high school in the region. He and a handful of students invented the Chiemgauer as an experiment on how to promote local businesses. Back then, like in many places, local stores were struggling because customers preferred to shop in malls. So, the store owners gave this new money a try. People actually started paying in Chiemgauers and the classroom experiment turned into a micro financial system. There was just one problem: under German law, printing or using money other than euros can land you in jail. So, the notes were never authorized
as legal tender. The federal bank just accepted their use - on one condition. "It's legal, because it's regional money. So, it's only valid here in the region, for a certain amount of people." That's very much the trick: the Chiemgauer can only be spent here. And it should be spent, not saved up. See these stickers? Every half a year, people must buy one of those for a few cents to keep a banknote valid. And after three years, the bills expire. The point is to make people spend this money in local stores as soon, and as often, as possible. That's also why, as a regular person, you can't exchange them for euros.
Businesses can exchange them for real money. But they pay a 5% deduction. That supports the operation of the currency and local associations. This way, the money keeps flowing. Let's put that to the test. "Thank you very much." "Here you go. Cheers." "Cheers." Can I actually use Chiemgauers to pay for those two beers? "I'd like to pay, please." "That'll be 8,50." "Nine, here you go." "Thanks a lot." The pub owner could now go to the market and buy a loaf of bread with the Chiemgauers. Then the vendor can use them for her purchases.
"Our supplier accepts Chiemgauer. We pay our supplier for organic produce, and he accepts Chiemgauer." Next, I'll get a postcard for a friend. "How many people pay in Chiemgauers here?" "It varies, but we estimate it to be between 10 and 15 percent." Then a couple of apples, at a local organic store. "That'll be 1,87, please." "Is it possible to pay in Chiemgauers?" "Gladly, yes." "That's two Chiemgauers then. Here you go."
"Thank you." Right after me, another customer pays the same way. "Why do you pay in Chiemgauers instead of euros?" "We also run an organic food store where we often get earnings in Chiemgauers. We then use some of that money for our personal purchases." And so the money goes round and round - in cash or electronically, with a special card, connected to your normal bank account. An estimated five million Chiemgauers get spent every year - by just 4,200 individuals and the roughly 300 businesses who take part in the system.
Globally, there are around 300 such "complementary" currencies, most of them in Europe and Brazil. They're called that because they're not replacing a country's official currency. They just exist alongside it. They're usually small, except for a few, like the Mumbuca in Brazil. Tens of millions of US dollars per year flow into the local economy and welfare here. That's the point of these currencies. And as a side effect, they also reduce transport emissions. "It pushes local shopping, which then hopefully - and that's the idea - makes the supply chains shorter. Because then what happens is that businesses start maybe sourcing their goods from locally produced."
Ester Barinaga researches these complementary currencies. She says a few are mainly focused on the environment. The "Vilawatt" for example, rewards citizens for saving energy. And people in Indonesia, the Philippines and other countries get "Plastic Bank" tokens for collecting and handing in plastic bottles. "Money can be designed. If money is created to reward pro-environmental behaviors, then you're going to have - you know, it's an incentive system - then you're going to have more people behaving pro-environmentally." The Chiemgauer has evolved from "just" a local currency into one that rewards climate-friendly behavior.
Remember how I got 50 bucks for using a shared car? You get other rewards for installing thermostats in your home, having your jeans repaired, insulating your house with natural materials, or, like the owner of this house, getting a solar panel for the balcony or backyard. "He got 100 Chiemgauers for this solar panel. In 20 years, it's 11 tons of carbon dioxide which are saved by this balcony power set." This reward system, called "climate bonus", has expanded from here to four more regions in Germany. The rewards are paid for by other locals and local businesses, who pay into a fund to offset their CO2 emissions.
Essentially, it's a small, emissions trading system. For each ton of emissions offset, nine tons are saved through all the balcony solar, shared cars, and other rewarded behavior. In the past four years, this has saved 12,800 tons of CO2. That's as much as 2,000 cars emit on average in the same time. Independent auditors have checked those numbers. And they say: it works. All the carsharing and balcony solar, supported with this self-made money, does reduce CO2. But the Chiemgauer has its limits.
Things like clothing or tech are still produced abroad, shipped around the world and sold here. Less than one percent of locals are using the Chiemgauer. And it has to stay that small, or Germany's federal bank could choose to regulate it. We can think of regional currencies as cleverly made vouchers, going round and round. Like the Chiemgauer, they can have an impact on local economies and CO2 emissions. And while, in the grand scheme of things, they are tiny, they can teach us a big lesson. Money, and monetary systems, aren't untouchable. They can be designed - for example to cut emissions. And if it works with small bucks, it could work with big ones too.
"Would you, or do you, use a regional currency where you live? Let us know in the comments below, subscribe for more videos like this and go check out dw.com for more stories."
