The life cycle of one banknote issues more CO2 of a car traveling 8 km ei digital payments they have a’21% lower carbon footprint. Will cash disappear with the green transition?
The production of banknotes
Producing banknotes requires energy, trees and materials such as cotton, nickel, copper and steel.
When we think of a banknote, we often simply consider it as a means of payment, without reflecting on what is behind that piece of paper. Do you really know what a banknote is made of?
The main material used for the production of banknotes is paper and cotton. This material gives the banknote a resistant yet flexible consistency.
But not only that: it is also made up of materials such as copper, nickel and steel, whose extraction process can cause environmental damage such as landscape alterations and water contamination.
The other phases of the life cycle
In addition to production, the other phases of the cash life cycle must also be considered: i.e emission, transport and disposal.
The ATM needs energy to function, the transportation of petrol and disposal takes place in landfill.
Considering all these elements, according to a recent study published in the Sole 24 Ore, Italy is the second country in Europe that pollutes the most through the use of banknotes with 2.7 kilograms of carbon dioxide emitted per capita.
This is because we are the country most “fond” of cash payments. In fact, the study says that in part citizens, especially in the south, have little trust in digital payments and above all there is a very low percentage of merchants who offer the possibility of using cashless services such as PayPal and Satispay.
Which one to choose?
Obviously POSs also need energy to function but according to the same study, cashless has a’21% lower carbon footprint than cash.
Furthermore, the ECB is working to reduce the environmental impact of cash on the environment and new solutions for disposal (not in landfill) and recycling of obsolete banknotes.
In general, if we want to look at everything from a broader perspective, cash impacts on the total emissions of a single European citizen only for 0.01%.
For example, a cotton t-shirt washed once a week for a year emits 7 times more than the entire life cycle of a banknote and the same as emissions resulting from 55 km traveled by car.
Therefore, between paying in cash or using cashless payments, the second option is preferable. But it is of little or no use if we do not make other more sustainable choices, in general, in our lives.
