3.4 Sustainability and Efficiency

3.4 Sustainability and Efficiency

As the digitisation of the payments system increases, it will rely upon the provision of out-sourced computing and processing services including data centres and related activities. These service providers consume large amounts of energy and, as such there is a need to ensure the payments system and its participants contribute positively to the Government’s Climate Action Plans. The European Payment Council[1] noted the physical parts of the payment chain represent a significant environmental impact namely payment terminals, card manufacturers and issuers; device manufacturers; and cloud services. Sustainability has to be central to the future of payments to ensure that national and international climate and energy commitments underpin their development and implementation in a rapidly decarbonising world in the coming decades as we approach net zero Carbon in 2050.

The ‘cash cycle’ refers to the way in which cash is produced, distributed, circulated, returned and ultimately destroyed by the Central Bank when it reaches the end of its useful life. This involves the Central Bank, cash-in-transit (CIT) firms, retail banks and An Post as well as Independent ATM deployers (IADs). With cash usage declining nationally over recent years, there is less cash flowing through the cash cycle and increasing unit costs for cash cycle participants. There is, therefore, a need to rationalise the cash cycle and its associated infrastructure to ensure that it serves the users of cash while also ensuring that the cash cycle is managed as efficiently as possible while it dynamically contracts and associates costs rise in tandem with this decline in use.

The NPS will focus on the future reasonable access to cash and the required level of efficiency that can be considered to the future cash cycle. In that context, the NPS will also reflect on the climate impact of the cash cycle and potential improvements to ensure its sustainability.