Aligning Euro Banknote Policies with Paris Agreement Targets

The European Central Bank (ECB) has been working to reduce the environmental impact of euro banknotes and the Eurosystem cash cycle since the introduction of the euro in 2002. Although it has made progress, it has further goals to reduce the environmental footprint of current and future euro banknotes.

In this context, it has conducted a Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) study to establish a baseline and gain a granular understanding of the impact of the environmental impact of banknotes as a payment.

The study, and results, were presented at the recent HSP EMEA conference in Sofia, Bulgaria by Bernadette O’Brien of the ECB.

PEF Methodology

The European Commission (EC) has adopted a Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) methodology that measures all the potential environmental impact over the entire life cycle of products. The approach comes with clear guidance, technical detail, limited choices to create a reproducible, comparable and robust harmonised score.