Getting greener: the role of the chip card module in eco-friendly payment cards

For consumers who want to reduce waste, eco-friendly payment cards seem like a simple way to lessen environmental impact. Unfortunately, switching to truly eco-friendly materials is not always simple. Nadia Tahriri, Senior Manager Product Marketing Payment, discusses how future product generations based on today’s Coil on Module (CoM) technology can make it possible to go even greener with payment cards.

Anatomy of a payment card

Sustainable Card Blow up
Sustainable Card Blow up
Sustainable Card Blow up

The accelerating growth of contactless payments is accompanied by a significant increase in the production of plastic payment cards. Globally, shipments of dual interface cards are expected to reach 3 billion shipments per year (Source: ABI Research – Smart Card Technologies). The rising demand in contactless payments has been caused both by enhanced customer convenience and COVID hygienic concerns whilst security is maintained. At the same time, consumer demand implies companies are increasingly committed to sourcing environmentally sustainable product materials and refraining from using virgin PVC.

At first glance, it may seem like swapping card material would be easy when it comes to payment cards. Unfortunately, the reality is not so simple.

Currently, payment cards are typically made with multiple layers of plastic made of PVC conjoined through lamination. A microchip is embedded in the layers and copper wire runs throughout the whole surface of the card. Global payment standards require that cards meet certain criteria such as level of stiffness, electrical performance and positioning of the module and antenna.

Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) is the most convenient and cost-effective material to meet these requirements.

Contactless payments and wearable devices have already started transforming payment behaviours with seamless tap & go enhancing customer experience and transaction performance. Consumers still use contact-based functionality in existing infrastructure like ATM machines and other card readers. These are built according to ISO standards for card dimensions, including height, width, and chip position.

When you add all these factors together, creating an eco-friendly payment card is not as straightforward as it might first seem.

Addressing the challenges of multi-layer cards

Sample Card
Sample Card
Sample Card

For security reasons, payment cards typically have a life time of 4 to 6 years. This means billions of cards are issued each year. Since compromising on cardholder security is not an option, improvements to payment card materials must be made.

Industry stakeholders are making concerted efforts to meet consumer demand for more sustainable cards. Instead of first-use plastic or virgin PVC, manufacturers have started using recycled materials to produce new smart payment cards: ABI Research indicates that first-use PVC plastic will decrease from 3.1 billion cards in 2021 to 2.5 billion in 2026 (Source: ABI Research – Alternative Solutions for Sustainability in the Payments Market). Instead of first-use PVC, manufacturers are turning to recycled PVC, followed by polylactic acid (PLA) plastic, polyethylene terephthalate glycol (PETG) plastic, and even plastic reclaimed from the ocean. Wooden card materials, like by Swiss Wood Cards and the Treecard wooden card produced by card manufacturer exceet Card Group are being increasingly promoted, too.

Payment networks are also doing their part to enable more sustainable card production. Mastercard has developed a “Guide to issuing sustainable cards” and in 2020 Visa and CPI Card Group partnered to create the “Earthwise Card” which is made with up to 98% upcycled plastic recovered from oceans.

It’s important when these eco-friendlier cards are produced that the means of doing so does not disproportionately cause further wastage. It is not sustainable for card manufacturers to upgrade production machines with each new card body material.  Production processes can actually provide another opportunity to reduce energy consumption and source more sustainable components and materials. Infineon’s Coil on Module (CoM) technology is designed for use with existing production setups while supporting various recycled materials.

Moving toward monoblock

To create a truly eco-friendly payment card, manufacturers need to think about card constructions without sandwich layers for the copper wire antenna sheet that is sandwiched between layers of plastic. Without embedded copper complicating the architecture, cards can instead be made in a single sheet or “monoblock” design without antenna.

New card system designs could eliminate antenna inlays and thus dramatically reduce material consumption, e.g. copper in the case of copper-wire antennas. This can minimize carbon emissions associated with mining and transport—allowing the card to be made of truly sustainable and fully recyclable materials, sourced and produced locally.

Meeting consumer demand with truly eco-friendly cards will enable banks to stand out from competitors and attract new customer groups—while also demonstrating a firm commitment to ESG obligations. Enabling card payments that are sustainable and fully recyclable depends on components that enable monoblock card architecture eliminating the antenna sheet. Infineon is dedicated to this goal to support issuers and manufacturers to offer truly sustainable payment cards – driving decarbonization together.

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Nadia Tahiri
Nadia Tahiri
Nadia Tahiri

Author: Nadia Tahriri, Senior Manager Product Marketing Payment