Eco-friendly credit cards
Thales is committed to sustainability, and we care about the environment – just like you!
Did you know that the amount of plastic used to produce banking cards every year is equivalent to the weight of 95 Boeing 747s?
And that the 3,5 billion banking cards (source ABI Research Q1 2022 - Cards shipment) made every year produce a carbon footprint equal to 288,000 passengers flying from New York to Sydney?
Developing a life cycle strategy for an eco-friendly card involves a global approach. Banks have to choose the right technology, processes, and products to substantially reduce adverse environmental impacts such as energy consumption, carbon footprint, and plastic waste.
As of July 2023, 324 banks have signed up to the Principles for Responsible Banking, leading the way to a future in which the banking community makes a beneficial contribution to people and the planet that society expects.
The Principles provide the framework for a sustainable banking system and help the industry demonstrate how it positively contributes to society. The CEO of each signatory bank commits to the official principles, including a target aimed at reducing the negative impact caused by banking products and services.
With its payment card solutions and services, Thales supports banks in implementing environmentally friendly and sustainable practices.
We have developed a complete set of tools that enables our banking clients to develop a consistent strategy to reduce the negative effects of their products and services.
Our sustainable products and services cover every aspect of a bank card's life, focusing on Reduction and Compensation. They range from bio-sourced and recycled card body materials to a carbon offset programme.
Our approach to delivering on sustainability is built on many foundations:
- Thales Gemalto PVC-Free Card
- Thales Gemalto Wood Card
- Thales Gemalto Bio-Sourced (PLA) Card
- Thales Gemalto Ocean Plastic® Card
- Thales Gemalto Recycled PVC Card
- Thales Gemalto Recycling
#1. Thales Gemalto PVC-Free Card
Thales leads the payment industry with its PVC-Free Card. Made from 100% recycled PETG, this card aligns with the latest regulatory efforts to phase out toxic materials such as chlorine.
The PVC-Free card enables banks and issuers to reinforce their sustainability commitments while providing customers with high-quality and environmentally responsible payment cards.
#2. Thales Gemalto Wood Card
This newly added premium solution to the eco-friendly card portfolio, features a 0% plastic card body, ensuring sustainability and exclusivity. A recent consumer survey highlights 65% of customers’ readiness to adopt this eco-conscious alternative with its authenticity and premium quality driving consumer preference. Affluent users favor its tactile feel, visual appearance and engraved design, making it the top choice among sustainable options. With wood regulated by FSC-forest and a lower carbon footprint than standard premium cards, The Thales Wood card is a responsible choice for consumers willing to take the next leap to sustainability.
#3. Thales Gemalto Bio-sourced (PLA) Card
One way to avoid plastic waste is to use alternative eco-friendly materials. Thales Gemalto Bio Sourced PLA cards use bio-sourced PLA made from non-edible corn and replace more than 80% of PVC within the card.
Do you know what PLA is?
Polylactic acid (PLA) is a sustainable plastic substitute made with renewable bio-sourced resources such as corn. It is non-petroleum-based and non-toxic if incinerated.
Thales was the first card manufacturer to provide a PLA card body for banking cards, an achievement that has enabled us to gain more expertise in bio-sourced card production than any other company in the world. Millions of Thales PLA cards have already been delivered worldwide and certified by major payment schemes.
Why Bio-sourced PLA
This provides a unique, sustainable value proposition:
- The payment card is decoupled from the petroleum chemistry
- It is the most carbon-footprint-efficient solution
Thales was the first card manufacturer to provide a PLA card body for banking cards. More than 10 million Thales PLA cards have been delivered to customers worldwide.
Being a global safety science leader, UL developed the ECV program to validate the environmental claim of the product. In March 2022, Thales Gemalto Bio-sourced (PLA) card is certified for bio-based content, which validates that the card contains bio-based content through lab testing. This makes it the world's 1st UL ECV-certified payment card.
#4. Thales Gemalto Ocean Plastic® Card
Plastic waste is also having a devastating impact on our oceans. Thales Gemalto Ocean Plastic® cards are made using 70% plastic cleared from coastal areas. One card contains roughly the equivalent of one reclaimed plastic bottle.
Thales believes in reusing plastic waste, especially post-consumer waste produced and discarded by the end consumer.
To achieve this goal, we decided to work on post-consumer recycling.
We're now rolling out Thales Gemalto Ocean Plastic® Cards, which use plastic reclaimed from coastal areas which would otherwise end up in the world's oceans.
Thales has partnered with Parley for the Oceans, the award-winning global network whose members come together to raise awareness for the beauty and vulnerability of the oceans and collaborate on projects that can end their destruction.
The partnership between Thales DIS and Parley empowers worldwide card issuers to offer their customers Thales Parley Ocean Card made with Ocean Plastic® – a premium material up-cycled from plastic bottles collected from coastal communities.
Parley's Code of Conduct further differentiates Ocean Plastic® from other recycled materials by prioritising traceability and the well-being of the employees and communities participating in the supply chain.
In November 2020, Thales won the prestigious 2020 Élan Award of Excellence in the Unique Innovation category from the International Card Manufacturers Association (ICMA) for the American Express Green Ocean Plastic Card.
ICMA's Élan Awards of Excellence celebrate design innovation, security and technical achievements that power the card industry.
#5. Thales Gemalto Recycled PVC Card
Thales Gemalto Recycled PVC cards help banks use less first-use plastic. They're made using plastic waste from the packaging and printing industries and contain 100% less first-use PVC.
The Thales Gemalto Recycled PVC card aims to replace first-use plastic in banking cards.
It's made of post-manufacturing material from different industries, such as packaging and printing. As a result, it reduces the use of first-use PVC by 100%.
#6. Thales Gemalto Recycling
Thales is committed to supporting banks to responsibly manage the disposal of payment cards. Its aim is to prioritise the environmental consequences of plastic card usage and so prevent microplastic pollution and reduce the use of virgin fossil materials.
The benefits of recycling are highlighted, including reduced waste going to landfill, energy conservation and job creation. Thales approach to end-of-life card recycling relies on the responsible collection, shredding, and processing of materials. Its recycling solutions include zero landfill waste, eco-friendly practices, and established partnerships for effective recycling.
What is Thales' commitment to the environment?
Thales' global environmental policy aims to manage our overall environmental impact.
So not only do we ensure eco-friendly delivery of our products, but we also embrace green manufacturing practices, as the ISO 14001 certifications of all our significant sites testify.
We also promote eco-friendly design at every stage, from product conception to re-engineering.
This process covers the product's environmental impact, such as resource consumption and emissions during manufacturing to waste and end-of-life disposal.
The way you manage a card's end-of-life disposal has an impact on environmental practices.
Many people wonder what to do with old credit cards, how to dispose of them, or even destroy them once they reach end-of-life or when they need to be renewed.
The good news is that we can help you find the right solution for your customers.
Thales' role is to facilitate your end-of-life card management by acting as an intermediary between you and our partner recycling companies.
We've started working with a long-term European partner to recycle banking cards. This involves recovering the energy from the plastic through incineration.
The metal in the cards is also recycled and then sent for use in other industries, such as jewellery and electrical circuit manufacturing.
This is hugely beneficial, as it means 0% of these materials end up in a landfill.
Additionally, we aim to recycle these materials in Europe to further mitigate the bank cards' carbon footprint. We've also developed next-generation products that put recycling at the heart of the design process.
This includes removing unnecessary components – such as the magnetic stripes or the signature panel – to make recycling possible. It also means working on a simplified colour design for the cards.
Swedish pioneer of sustainable payment cards, Doconomy, is again leading the way with a card that comes with mono colour printing, a light signature panel and no magnetic stripes. It's an eye-catching design and a way of putting recycling at the heart of card production.
Card recycling is undoubtedly a challenge for many banks, but with rapid advances happening across the sector, there's a real opportunity to drive change.
With consumers increasingly expecting companies to be environmentally friendly, Thales can provide you with a complete set of tools that enables you to build a consistent and sustainable card offering that proves your green credentials and counters any claims of greenwashing.
Thales implements processes to accelerate dematerialisation.
Our services help to reduce the excessive and unnecessary production of the bits of paper– such as personalised card carriers, inserts and PIN mailers – that usually go hand in hand with delivering and activating cards, as well as enabling you to share information with your cardholders and access comprehensive online reporting solutions.
The Thales Gemalto card carrier compiler tool lets banks manage advanced carrier design and implement frequent online content updates. Put simply; it enables you to scale down the number of leaflets you need to bundle with each card.
Thales also offers complete card PIN code management. Our innovative and secure solution provides an interactive experience for cardholders and a seamless move to digital. Choosing paperless PIN management and distribution lowers your carbon footprint and supports your corporate social responsibility (CSR) programme.
For EMV card issuance, you can monitor your card production and personalisation via Thales' web portal, with electronic invoicing available on request. The process is paperless and brings agility to managing card batches of any size.
For EMV card customisation, Thales offers an online personal picture service for your artwork. Cardholders can be issued a unique card while maintaining a paperless and environmentally friendly production chain.
Thales Sustainable payment cards are certified by major payment schemes and safety scientists.
Thales has its full portfolio of cards certified by the Mastercard Sustainable Card Program. Since 2019, 30 million of these eco-friendly cards have been issued based on bio-sourced materials or recycled plastic.
The global safety science leader UL tested and certified Thales Gemalto Bio-sourced (PLA) card in March 2022. The 1st bio-sourced payment card in the world certified by UL*
* Precision on the RESULT is cited as +/- 3% (absolute), plus +/- 2% difference comes from the card structure tolerance.
Customer References
Thales has delivered millions of eco-friendly cards and services worldwide to over 25 customers.
Doconomy revisited the green credit card approach putting the user at the heart of the green payment strategy.
Mediolanum launched a new sustainable card made of PLA to reduce PVC use by more than 80% in payment cards.
Findomestic launches its more sustainable credit card, which uses PLA instead of PVC. They stated, "As of 30 April 2021, we have put just over 100,000 PLA cards into circulation with a reduction of 600 kilos of PVC". "In February 2021, we started replacing our new and expiring cards and switched from PVC to PLA cards. We will conclude this cycle in 2024 when all our cards will be eco-sustainable".
More resources
- Banking cards: What's wrong with PVC?
- What to do with old credit cards?
- Redefining green credit cards: Doconomy and the Do card
- The official source for the EMV® specs
- EMV basics: Discover EMV smartcards in 3 minutes
- Card Design: The best-looking credit cards can be yours
- Full metal jacket: Metal cards are coming
- CNP fraud: Combat Card-Not-Present fraud now
- CP fraud: Biometrics for stronger authentication? Discover the EMV biometric credit card.
- Contactless: Is Contactless payment changing our life?
Thales receives the 2024 Juniper Research Platinum Prize for Sustainability in Payment Cards
We are proud to have won the Future Digital Awards 2024 for Fintech and Payment with Juniper Research on October 2024.
Get Inspired
Documents
A guide to issuing sustainable cards
Explore the findings of the Greener Payments Partnership for issuing sustainable cards and meet the objectives of improved recyclability or renewable sourcing, at a quality comparable with existing materials.
Download the guide
Thales Gemalto Eco-friendly Credit Cards
Supporting your sustainable practices
Read more on Gemalto Eco-friendly Credit Cards
