The payments industry is evolving fast, with new technologies transforming how we send, receive, and track money. There are more options than ever to pay, and transaction fees are lower than ever before. We get more useful information from every payment, driving better service and higher sales.
But while these innovations promise so much, there are overlooked costs: energy and waste. As fintech grows more complex, its environmental impact has grown with it. It’s time to take real action to address this trend, protect our planet, and keep fees low.
In this article, we’ll explore the intersection of payments and sustainability, which has become a major industry priority as its energy consumption continues to surge. We’ll see how new solutions have helped the planet, and where new technology keeps driving energy demand higher.
Lastly, we’ll discuss how merchants, clients, and processors can reduce their footprint while improving efficiency and saving money.
Invisible Footprint: The Energy Cost Behind Each Transaction
We don’t usually think of financial services as energy-intensive, but they are one of the energy-intensive sectors. Massive server farms, 24/7 fraud detection, real-time settlement layers, and global ATM networks require constant power.
Credit card networks alone process hundreds of billions of transactions annually, each requiring data storage, encryption, and communication across multiple institutions.
As a report by JP Morgan explained, “Each card transaction involves a number of intermediaries, from the card issuer through to the merchant’s bank. Moving data from one step to another in this complex back-end process generates carbon emissions.”
Banks and payment processors maintain sprawling data centers, in addition to brick-and-mortar locations, that support everything from mobile apps to cashing checks in person. The predictable result is a very big footprint.
New solutions help to mitigate that footprint, like online banking and digital receipts. But for every gain in physical efficiency, there’s a new reason to generate and process more data.
New Tech: Hungry for Data, Energy
New technologies (ideally) make our lives more efficient, and this tends to be the case. Our cars get better mileage than they used to, while our TVs and laptops consume less power. However, when it comes to some emerging solutions in the payments space, the opposite is true.
New technologies like artificial intelligence, cryptocurrency, and blockchain have unlocked enormous potential in the payments world. AI helps detect fraud in real time. Crypto allows borderless, decentralized transactions. Machine learning enables personalized offers and smarter risk assessments, growing sales while protecting sensitive data.
Leveraging more powerful computing networks for more secure, informative payment solutions is a beautiful thing. More data collection and analysis have yielded real benefits.
Proof of Work’s Massive Energy Footprint
Source: crypto.com
All of those gains come at a cost. A single Bitcoin transaction, for example, can use as much energy as roughly a million Visa transactions. Generative AI tools running on GPUs consume huge amounts of electricity compared to traditional software systems. While these tools create value, they’re computationally expensive and that means energy-hungry.
This paradox challenges the common narrative that tech is always a net positive for efficiency. Payment tech is advancing, but if it’s not designed with sustainability in mind, it risks creating more problems than it solves.
Smarter Systems: How to Shrink the Footprint
Fortunately, reducing the environmental cost of payments doesn’t require sacrificing performance. Businesses and POS partners can take simple, effective steps to lower their impact:
- Go paperless: Digital receipts cut down on paper waste and printer-related energy usage.
- Lower transaction costs: Choosing payment methods with lower processing fees (like A2A transfers) often correlates with lower energy use. If your POS provider (or preferred digital currency) is beating the competition on fees, it’s probably the greener option.
- Energy-efficient hardware: Use terminals and devices certified for low power consumption.
- Data-conscious software: Opt for platforms that avoid unnecessary analytics bloat, especially when you’re not benefiting from those insights.
- Idle shutoffs: Set devices to power down or enter sleep mode when not in use.
Even small actions like turning off unused terminals or optimizing transaction batching can add up to significant savings over time.
When Green Means Green
Sustainable practices are good for the planet, and they’re usually good for your bottom line. Lowering energy use means smaller utility bills. Cutting down on paper saves on supply costs. And by minimizing the average cost per transaction, merchants can improve margins while reducing carbon impact.
Moreover, as consumers become more eco-conscious, demonstrating a commitment to sustainability can drive their loyalty. Merchants and processors that build greener systems anticipate regulatory changes, save money, and gain a strategic edge.
COCARD: Leading in Tomorrow’s Technology
At COCARD, we’re working to make the payments space cleaner, smarter, and more affordable. Because in 2025, saving the planet and saving money should go hand in hand. We see going green as a natural extension of our core philosophy: get ahead of trends that drive loyalty and save money, rather than running to catch up.
We’ve leaned into new solutions that minimize energy costs, while making all major payment solutions available to our merchants and their clients. This is how we achieved some of the lowest transaction fees and highest split rates in the industry.
Get in touch today to supercharge your payment suite.