2024-06-23-牛津经济研究院-欧洲数字超现金支付对环境的影响（英）_351页_9mb

Environmental Impact of Digital Over Cash Payments in Europe

Core Content Overview

This report, commissioned by the European Digital Payment Industry Alliance (EDPIA), provides a comprehensive Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA) of digital and cash payments at Point of Sale (POS) in three European countries: Finland, Italy, and Germany. The study aims to evaluate the environmental impact of these payment methods and identify potential measures to reduce their ecological footprint.

Main Objectives

• To compare the environmental impact of digital and cash payments at POS in 2022.
• To identify the key drivers of environmental impact in both systems.
• To explore measures that could reduce the environmental impact of payments in Europe.

Key Findings

Environmental Impact Comparison

• Digital payments have a significantly lower environmental impact compared to cash payments in all three countries.
• The global warming potential (GWP) of a digital payment is estimated to be around 0.85 g CO₂ equivalents, while a cash payment has a much higher impact, estimated at 4.6 g CO₂ equivalents.
• Cash payments are more resource-intensive, especially in terms of mineral resource scarcity and ionizing radiation.
• The digital payment system is more efficient in terms of energy use and emissions, particularly in data centres and payment terminals.

Drivers of Environmental Impact

• Digital payments are influenced by the energy consumption of data centres, the production of smartphones and cards, and the operation of payment terminals.
• Cash payments are driven by banknote and coin production, cash-in-transit (CiT) operations, cash counting machines (CCMs), and ATMs/CRMs.
• The end-of-life (EoL) phase of payment systems is also a significant contributor to environmental impact.

Sensitivity Analysis

• The impact of cash payments increases when there is no way to ATM/CRM, no refurbishment of terminals, or no overhead during coin production.
• Conversely, the impact of digital payments decreases when energy use is lower in data centres and more small CCMs are used.
• The worst-case scenario for digital payments and the best-case scenario for cash payments further highlight the environmental disparity between the two systems.

Uncertainty and Data Quality

• The study acknowledges limitations in data availability, especially for cash-related processes.
• Monte Carlo simulations were used to assess uncertainty across various impact categories, including global warming, mineral resource scarcity, and ionizing radiation.
• The results are based on the ReCiPe 2016 method and the ecoinvent 3.9.1 database, with a focus on cradle-to-grave analysis.

Key Information and Methodology

• Functional Unit: An average POS transaction in 2022.

• LCA Methodology: Based on the ReCiPe 2016 method and conducted using SimaPro 9.5.0.1.

• System Boundaries: Covered production, operation, and end-of-life phases for all subsystems.

• Subsystems Analyzed:

  • Digital Payment: Cards, payment terminals, data centres, smartphones.
  • Cash Payment: Banknotes, coins, CiT, CCMs, ATMs/CRMs, cards, data centres.

• Data Sources: Included material inputs, energy use, and emissions data from various countries.

• Assumptions: For digital payments, all transactions are assumed to be processed via smartphones or physical cards. For cash payments, banknotes and coins are used, and the transport of cash is handled by CiT companies.

Recommendations

• Promote digital payment adoption to reduce environmental impact.
• Improve energy efficiency in data centres and payment terminals.
• Encourage the use of recycled cards and smaller CCMs to minimize resource use and emissions.
• Enhance the sustainability of cash systems through better energy management and reduced overhead in coin production.
• Implement robust LCA practices to ensure accurate and reliable environmental impact assessments for payment systems.

Conclusion

The LCA study concludes that digital payments have a lower environmental impact than cash payments across all three countries. While digital payments are more efficient and less resource-intensive, cash payments still play a significant role in the European market and require targeted measures to reduce their environmental footprint. The findings suggest that the payments sector can significantly reduce its environmental impact through a combination of technological advancements, policy interventions, and sustainable practices.