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CARBON EMISSIONS & CLIMATE CHANGE
The Mint is committed to investing in solutions that reduce our carbon footprint, improve waste diversion and minimize the environmental impact of our operations.
We’re innovating to make our facilities and products greener
As a Crown corporation working to serve Canadians, we must lead by example on climate action. That’s why the Mint’s Board directed us to focus our environmental efforts on carbon emissions and climate change.
The Mint’s ESG objectives are aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goal around climate action. The development of our decarbonization roadmap is underway. Its leading goal? A carbon-neutral Circulation coin business by 2030.
We strive to be a mindful steward of the environment in all areas of our business. From reducing waste, to promoting sustainable and ethical mining practices, to seeking more environmentally responsible refinery methods, we are committed to reducing our environmental impact.
Carbon Emissions & Climate Change
The Mint is focused on reducing carbon emissions throught our entire value chain, including those from suppliers as well as our own transportation and business travel.
The Mint has made a commitment to have a carbon neutral circulation coin business by 2030. This means that improvements to the operation of our Winnipeg facility will ensure that Canadian circulation coins, as well as those produced for other countries, are carbon neutral.
ISO 14001:2015 certification is increasingly required by central banks and foreign clients in their bid process to ensure the Mint has suitable environmental management systems in place. As of 2023, all of the Mint’s facilities are ISO 14001:2015 (environmental management systems) certified. Our Ottawa facility received certification following a rigorous audit, while the Winnipeg facility, has been certified since 2021.
The Mint continues to search for new ways to divert more waste from going to landfills, while establishing waste diversion and recycling targets and key performance indicators (KPIs) for our manufacturing waste.
The Mint is focused on reducing everyday waste at its locations by encouraging employees to reduce, reuse and recycle. Employees are both challenged and encouraged to create and lead their own initiatives to help make the Mint greener — and employee engagement in these grassroots initiatives is growing.
The Mint is identifying and implementing water consumption reduction opportunities to achieve a goal of 5% reduction over 3 years.
The Mint is working collaboratively with other international Mints to identify opportunities to reduce our environmental footprint related to the packaging of our numismatic, circulation, and investment products.
Not only does the Royal Canadian Mint produce all of Canada’s circulation coins, it also manages the national coin supply. From weekly forecasting, to production, recycling and eventual retirement, our end-to-end oversight of inventories across the country enables us to effectively deliver a reliable and inclusive payment option for all Canadians. We are proud to ensure there are never any coin shortages and that coins are available when, and where, Canadians want or need to use them.
As Canadians adopt electronic payments as an alternative to using cash, a trend that accelerated during the pandemic, our job managing circulation coins is more essential than ever before – especially in remote and rural regions with limited banking access and inconsistent internet connectivity.
Other key elements of the Mint’s ESG commitment are our coin recycling and redistribution programs, which have reduced the average annual new coin requirements to support trade and commerce.
This section will be continually updated with articles, photos, videos and more. There will be new content to share in the weeks and month ahead, so be sure to check back often.
Identify actions and investments needed to achieve reduction targets for Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions.
Achieve waste diversion target of 44%.
Identify opportunities to reduce water consumption by 5% over 3 years.
Identify and quantify Scope 3 sources.
We are committed to acting responsibly by minimizing our impact on the environment, cultivating safe and inclusive workplaces and making a positive difference in the communities where we operate.