There will be very few organisations that can eliminate carbon emissions completely, and most organisations are going to take a number of years to get anywhere close.

A recent article on the Raconteur website looked at what the payment industry is doing on decarbonisation. It is worth having a look at what others are doing, particularly since cash is sometimes looked at in the frame of payments generally.

The Mint Directors’ Working Group (MDWG) spoke at the Coin Conference about new research commissioned into the environmental impact of cash compared with digital payments.

If you were not in Edinburgh for the Cash & Payments Sustainability Forum™ you missed something special, the first ever event dedicated to sustainability for this industry.

Danmarks Nationalbank has issued a paper ‘Corporate CO2 communication is Not Associated with Fewer Emissions’. In the paper, annual reports of 141 large European companies were analysed to compare their communications about CO2 equivalent emissions with past, present and future developments in emissions.

Allied Universal is a security and facility services company. It has just published its 2021 Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) report, its first ever. This lays out its strategy, targets and progress across all ESG areas.

The Economist magazine issued a special report on Environment, Society and Governance (ESG) in its 23 July 2022 edition. It describes ESG as having had a ‘negligible impact on carbon emissions’.

The Bank of England has issued its climate related financial disclosure document for 2022, which builds on the significant progress made in 2021.

The financial industry is paying increasing attention to published Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) data, driven by regulatory requirements and investor demand.

The Cash & Payments Sustainability Forum™ takes place in Edinburgh 14-16 November. While COP 27 is an alternative option given that it is taking place in Egypt at the same time, the Sustainability Forum will be more useful for those working at the sharp end of the cash and payments industry.