Putting Sustainability Centre Stage
About the Conference / Agenda
Presentations Link: ZIP FILE
The Cash & Payments Sustainability Forum™ was an industry first, an event focused on sustainability, particularly environmental sustainability, in the cash industry. A year after COP 26 was in Scotland and with COP 27 taking place in Egypt, this was a chance to reflect on what to do in our area of responsibility.
The size of the event meant a round table approach was possible and there was the opportunity to ask questions and have good conversations. A third of the speakers came from outside of the industry giving the opportunity for new information and different thinking, not just the sharing of best industry practice, valuable as that is. The agenda was organised in three parts, policy, operations and the cash cycle with the thought that there would be something for all in each area. The programme started with a seminar on the UK’s Cash Industry Environmental Charter group’s work and finished with a session on the cash cycle. Given that cash management companies tend to focus on their own dedicated conferences, it was good to have this perspective in the Forum.
Crisis and the role of measurement
The opening session set the scene with the University of Edinburgh Business School’s Dr Sarah Ivory laying out the environmental challenges we all face and the urgent need to reduce emissions and adapt to the change that is now inevitable. The Royal Mint explained its end-to-end Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) programme reminding us that sustainability is more than just looking after the environment. MyCarbon laid out the theory of Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) and the Dutch National Bank (DNB) then gave us an update on its 2015 LCA with the unwelcome news that the impact of cash payments is five times greater than that of debit card payments. However, the good news is that the DNB can see a clear route forward to cash reducing its impact significantly enabling it to compete with cards in the future. Dr Franz Seitz also reminded us that sustainability includes the social good of the products and that cash attributes such as resilience, privacy and the inclusiveness of cash need to be factored in when making comparisons.
Procurement
One approach to driving change is to include environmental criteria in tenders. NatWest Bank explained how it is working as a partner with suppliers getting them to use a ratings agency post-appointment as a supplier and then to use the scores to do better. DNB explained how it has used its tenders to increase the use of sustainably sourced cotton to the point in 2019 when 100% was sourced sustainability. In its 2021 procurement DNB gave two elements of sustainability a weighted score in the adjudication of suppliers. This use of sustainability is a work in progress.
Staff engagement
While ESG programmes and reporting are a powerful tool for companies to manage their sustainability progress, bottom up programmes are important. In that context NatWest, Vaultex and G+D all spoke about their work in this area. NatWest is working at a large scale but there were lessons to learn from their approach. Vaultex’s Green Path initiative, that has been running since 2019, and G+D’s 2022 ‘hackathon’, were more immediate and relatable examples to consider.
Energy
Crossing the gap between policy and operations were three speakers talking about energy. Npower, an energy provider, gave a detailed presentation of the challenges of energy reduction and thoughts on how to manage Scope 2 and Scope 3 energy. Dr Matthew Brander from the University of Edinburgh Business School highlighted the risk of greenwashing when organisations claim to be using renewable energy on a market-based method of assessment that does not include additionality. Additionality is the requirement to prove that the renewable energy being bought is coming from a new source rather than an existing source. As part of this session THG Eco, a specialist in carbon offsetting, explained how to buy carbon credits with confidence that they are ethical and meaningful. THG Eco also explained options for how to buy them and that the market price varies in line with additionality. Supply exceeds demand and prices are low and set to remain low.
Manufacturing sustainabilityThere were two sessions dedicated to manufacturing sustainability. The European Central Bank explained how its development of the third series of user banknotes is putting sustainability at the heart of its assessments and decision making. CCL Secure and Oberthur gave detailed descriptions of their environmental work. Both were full of rich examples of what they have done and the results achieved. Verco is a consultancy helping manufacturers make changes. It works closely with CCL Secure but presented about the role of process in getting to net zero emissions. G+D presented its Green Banknote initiative including sustainable cotton, recycled polymer, mineral free oil inks tec. Komori started its work on sustainability at the start of the century. With typical Japanese thoroughness it has worked systematically ever since to do better. The Royal Canadian Mint had more of an ESG message but included case studies on energy usage, the coin life cycle and alloy recovery.
Disposal of unfit banknotes at the end of their lives
The Forum saw the launch of a white paper on how to dispose of unfit cotton banknotes at the end of life, ‘What Goes Around Comes Around’. Given that over 90% of the world’s banknotes are cotton based, the paper sets out to give the science, practical examples and an outline approach to moving up the hierarchy of waste disposal options. This paper was complemented by a new survey of over 80 central banks by Kusters into what banks are doing in this area covering paper, composite substrates and polymer substrates. Hunkeler presented its paper issued at the start of November which focused on organising shredded waste ready for disposal. Although delivered remotely, the Pakistan Security Printing Corporation presented its work on composting unfit banknotes. This detailed piece of work demonstrated that composting is a viable option available to almost all central banks. Given how many central banks now have one or more denominations on a polymer substrate, De La Rue talked about how it helps customers recycle their polymer notes.
Cash cycle
Koenig and Bauer Banknote Solutions (KBBS) presented on the use of data in the cash cycle. It presented the case that in the changing environment we face data can reduce some of the friction that is making cash expensive, inconvenient and with a larger environmental impact. KBBS has introduced two apps recently seeking to bridge the gap between the physical and digital worlds. The consumption of fossil fuels moving cash is one of the big environmental areas for the cash cycle. Loomis explained is carbon reduction initiatives, its work on plastics (reduction, recycling and offsetting) and its Scope 2 green energy work.
FedCash® Services described its environmental work including what it is doing with disposing of shredded banknote waste and its E-manifest service, which replaces paper-based systems with electronic manifests. It has also started a project to look at what to do with its plastic waste. G+D explained its Green Cash Cycle initiative that works with the Green Banknote initiative presented in the manufacturing session. To reduce plastic G+D is focusing on cash design, processing and distribution. Less power, more automation, less packaging, multi-bank cash centres, network forecasting etc.
Final word
This was a rich event full of new thinking, fresh discussions and detailed explanations of what organisations are doing and why. A full report is being written and there will be articles in Currency News™ and Cash & Payment News™ but being there was special. Planning and thinking about how to run a future event is underway. Input from all is welcome!
