The European Central Bank (ECB) today published an environmental footprint study of euro banknotes as a payment instrument. It shows that the average environmental footprint for payments with banknotes was 101 micropoints (μPt) per euro area citizen in 2019. This is equivalent to driving a car for 8 km, or 0.01% of the total environmental impact of a European citizen’s annual consumption activities.
The study measures the potential environmental impact of all activities in a full cycle of euro banknotes – from raw material acquisition, manufacturing, distribution and circulation, to disposal by euro area national central banks (NCBs). It is based on the European Commission's Product Environmental Footprint
methodology and builds on the work begun in the life cycle assessment of the first series of euro banknotes in 2004.
The Eurosystem is committed to further reducing environmental impact of banknotes, while ensuring cash is widely available and accepted.
