Cash Suppliers Join Forces to Examine the Impact of Payments

A group of organisations from both the coin and banknote sectors have joined forces to support a first-of-its-kind in-depth study into the environmental impact of cash versus digital payments.

The initiative was spearheaded by the Mint Directors Working Group (MDWG), which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year and comprises 28 mints and National Central Banks in Europe. It was founded in 1992 to deal with all aspects of the coin industry at the European level, including coin circulation and numismatics, R&D, materials, fabrication and recycling of coins in the Eurosystem, with a focus on best practice, and technical, economic and environmental studies.

Speaking at the Coin Conference in October, current President of the MDWG since 2016, Pascal Rencker of Monnaie de Paris, presented the background to the study. With cash under pressure, the MDWG wants to ensure there is a level playing field when it comes to sustainability. There have been a number of studies into cash but hardly any into payments. It seeks to redress the balance, he explained.