Why transportation must become the next frontier in sustainable identity documents

Discussions about the carbon footprint of passports, national ID cards and other secure credentials often focus on materials and manufacturing. Yet one significant contributor is often overlooked: transportation. 

From raw materials travelling to production facilities, to components moving between manufacturing sites and finished documents being delivered worldwide, transportation plays a critical role throughout the identity document lifecycle. Analysis conducted by Thales found that transport represented more than 25% of the total carbon footprint of its identity documents in 2024, highlighting a major opportunity for emissions reductions.

Transportation emissions are influenced by three key factors: distance, weight and transport mode.

Among these, transport mode often holds significant impact. Although only around 20% of Thales identity document shipments by weight are transported by air, they account for more than 80% of transport-related CO₂ emissions.

The differences can be substantial. Transporting a polycarbonate chip-based ID card over a distance of 10,000 kilometres by air generates approximately 16 times more CO₂ emissions than road transport and up to 95 times more than sea freight.

These decisions can significantly influence a document's overall environmental footprint. Using the same 10,000-kilometre shipping scenario, a polycarbonate ID card with an embedded chip produced in Europe has a 76% higher total carbon footprint when shipped by air rather than sea. For a 32-page ePassport, the difference rises to 93%.

These figures highlight an important reality: reducing emissions is not solely about what products are made from, but how they move through the value chain.

The journey towards a more sustainable identity document starts long before production.

Raw materials such as polycarbonate, semiconductors and security components travel through complex global supply chains before arriving at manufacturing facilities. Every movement contributes to the overall carbon footprint, making supplier collaboration a critical element of transport decarbonisation strategies.

Whenever operationally feasible, shifting from air freight to rail or sea transport can significantly reduce emissions. However, lower-carbon transport modes typically involve longer transit times, making effective supply chain planning essential.

Success depends on close cooperation between suppliers, manufacturers and logistics teams to ensure sustainability improvements do not compromise operational performance.

For identity document programmes, transportation decisions must also consider security requirements. While finished identity documents require highly controlled logistics, certain upstream materials can often be transported under less restrictive conditions. This creates additional opportunities to adopt lower-carbon transport modes without compromising security.

Optimising load utilisation can also deliver meaningful benefits. Consolidating shipments, improving packaging efficiency and reducing empty transport runs all help lower emissions while improving logistics efficiency.

Distance matters, and sourcing materials closer to production sites or leveraging regional distribution hubs can reduce the kilometres travelled throughout the supply chain. Thales is actively pursuing these approaches through close collaboration with suppliers and by continuously evaluating its sourcing and manufacturing footprint.

Thales also increasingly incorporates sustainability considerations into supplier discussions, encouraging partners to explore lower-emission transport solutions such as electric vehicles, biofuels and emerging hydrogen-powered alternatives.

Transportation does not stop once materials arrive at a production site. Components and products often move between factories, warehouses and logistics hubs before reaching customers, making intercompany transport a significant and controllable source of emissions.

Reducing unnecessary movements, shortening distances and optimising routes can significantly lower fuel consumption and associated emissions. Fleet choices also play an important role, with organisations increasingly exploring electric and alternative-fuel vehicles for internal logistics operations.

At Thales, local shuttle services using electric vehicles have already been deployed between warehousing hubs and, in some cases, for customer deliveries.

Digital technologies are helping accelerate progress in this area. Advanced logistics software, real-time tracking and data analytics provide greater visibility into transportation operations, helping identify inefficiencies, optimise routes and continuously improve environmental performance.

Customer deliveries are often one of the most visible and emissions-intensive parts of the value chain.

For identity documents, the challenge is particularly complex. Governments expect deliveries that are secure, reliable and often time-sensitive, which can limit the range of available transportation options.

Air freight remains an important solution when speed is critical. However, because of its carbon intensity, organisations are increasingly exploring ways to reduce their dependence on air transport.

At Thales, teams are actively working with customers to identify opportunities to shift suitable deliveries from air to sea freight, helping reduce emissions while maintaining programme requirements. Although transit times are longer, improved forecasting, strategic inventory management and safety stock planning can help mitigate these challenges while delivering substantial emissions reductions.

Delivery requirements themselves can also influence transportation emissions. By working closely with customers on forecasting and delivery planning, organisations can create more opportunities to use lower-carbon transport modes and reduce reliance on expedited shipments without compromising programme timelines.

For shipments where air transport remains necessary, sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) are emerging as an important pathway for lowering emissions.

The challenge is not simply choosing the lowest-carbon option. It is finding the right balance between sustainability, security, service levels and operational resilience.

Transportation emissions are not determined solely by logistics decisions, with product design also playing a vital role.

Weight directly affects transportation emissions, meaning even small design changes can have a significant impact at scale. In an ePassport, one sheet of paper, equivalent to four pages, weighs approximately one gram, saving around one kilogram of material for every 1,000 passports produced.

These savings extend beyond material consumption. Reducing a passport booklet from 44 pages to 32 pages lowers its transport footprint by approximately 16%.

These examples show how sustainability considerations can be embedded across the entire document lifecycle.

As governments continue to strengthen sustainability objectives, reducing transportation emissions will become an increasingly important component of identity programmes.

The opportunity is clear. By optimising transport modes, improving logistics efficiency, collaborating more closely with suppliers and customers, adopting lower-emission vehicles and considering transport impacts during product design, organisations can make meaningful progress towards their carbon reduction goals.

For the identity industry, the challenge is unique. Security, resilience and service quality can never be compromised, yet sustainability must become an integral part of decision-making.

At Thales, reducing transport-related emissions is part of a broader commitment to designing more sustainable identity solutions. By working across the value chain, from suppliers and manufacturing sites to logistics providers and customers, Thales is helping governments meet their security, operational and sustainability objectives simultaneously.