Biobased Carbon Content for Banknotes

The intensive focus on sustainability and greener solutions has been developing rapidly in the banknote industry. In the July 2023 edition of Currency News™, G+D described its rationale for sustainable products, and highlighted, firstly, the introduction of the Green Banknote initiative in 2022 and, subsequently, the introduction of Green Longlife™ in 2023.

Sustainability is much more than just the already well-established carbon footprint. G+D and Louisenthal point out that it is also important to take into account what kind of material is used. Renewable materials are as important as a low carbon footprint. As we know, the carbon footprint can be measured by the Product Carbon Footprint calculation (ISO 14067). But how can the amount of renewable materials be calculated, or validly proven? This is done by the certification of the biobased carbon content.

So, what is the biobased carbon content? It indicates the share of biogenic carbon compared to the total carbon in a product. It can be concluded that the higher this value is, the higher is the proportion of renewable raw materials. The biobased carbon content describes how much material of a product is made from substances derived from living organisms.