Report shows Mobile Access Control delivers real green savings

Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) goals have companies taking a closer look at their environmental footprint and considering sustainability with nearly every significant business decision, including those related to access management systems.

The growing influence of sustainability on business decisions should come as no surprise, particularly among Australian enterprises that must now abide by mandatory ESG compliance with regard to climate-related financial disclosures for large businesses.

End users are also stepping up demands for footprint transparency from suppliers in terms of operations, product sourcing and research and development practices. For security leaders, sustainability is still on the radar: 75% consider sustainability when selecting security solutions, according to HID's 2025 State of Security and Industry Report, which gathered responses from 1,800 partners, end users, and security and IT personnel worldwide.

One sector where sustainability's influence on product source is readily apparent is physical access control. Practical avenues for meeting some of these sustainability initiatives include sourcing energy-efficient technologies and implementing systems that reduce waste and support long-term efficiency. Shifting from hardware-heavy systems to digital solutions, such as mobile credentials and cloud-based platforms that prioritise openness, ensures that existing legacy investments can be used without having to rip and replace while contributing to reduced waste.

Sustainability: Mobile vs. Physical Access

When it comes to assessing sustainability and environmental impacts within the access control space, the most obvious jumping-off point is credentials. Specifically, the impact differential between mobile credentials and traditional PVC cards. 

Logic would dictate that mobile access, which utilises credential stored on smartphones and watches for physical and logical access control, would have a lower environmental impact than its plastic counterpart. After all, mobile access relies on existing devices. However, there is still an environmental cost, which is what HID sought to determine via a "cradle-to-grave" life cycle assessment (LCA) comparing the HID ISOProx PVC Card and HID Mobile Access solution.

The LCA was conducted by Sustainable Solutions Corporation using the ISO 14040 and ISO 14044 principles and framework. Upon completion, results were reviewed and verified by an external independent third-party panel, as required by the ISO standards.

As reported in Cradle-to-Grave Life Cycle Assessment (LCA): Mobile Access Vs. ISOProx PVC Credentials, the LCA found that mobile access has a substantially lower negative environmental impact than PVC cards by every measure - including global warming potential, fossil fuel depletion, eutrophication (excess runoff of nutrients into freshwater), smog formation, acidification and ozone depletion.

The LCA determined that, when compared to the PVC cards, mobile access:

• Emits the equivalent of 75% less carbon dioxide.
• Results in the depletion of 83% less fossil fuel resources.
• Generates the equivalent of 88% less nutrient runoff.
• Contributes to the equivalent of 92% less smog production.
• Is 94% less likely to contribute to acid rain.
• Is 99.99% less likely to contribute to ozone layer depletion.

The life cycle impacts for mobile access solutions are strongly driven by raw materials, which contributed about 55% of its impact across all measures. For PVC cards, the manufacturing process and raw materials were the two strongest environmental impact drivers. 

The Mobile Advantage

The findings of the LCA do more than just confirm mobile access solutions' much smaller environmental footprint. They are also invaluable for informing decisions on deploying more environmentally friendly solutions and helping architects, engineers and specifiers design buildings that meet environmental certifications like LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design).

Compared to traditional plastic cards, mobile credentials are also more energy efficient. However, their benefits over physical access options extend beyond sustainability to include security and operational advantages. For example, mobile access solutions leverage the multiple layers of security within smartphones, such as biometric authentication and passcodes, to add an extra layer of protection that physical cards cannot access. Storing mobile credentials - which can also be encrypted to further reduce the risk of cloning or unauthorised duplication - in users' digital wallets taps into yet another layer of security and convenience.

On the operations and administrative side, digital credentials offer several efficiencies that benefit the entire organisation. They are simple to distribute and manage and integrate easily with existing mobile-enabled access control systems as well as other mobile apps and back-office systems, such as scheduling, time and attendance and facility management. This creates a unified platform across which to control and access multiple functions, benefiting both users and those tasked with managing these broader operational functions.

Innovation and Sustainability

Sustainability is an important business driver, one that is evident in the innovations emerging around access control. Organisational commitments like those made by HID to science-based targets that will reduce carbon footprints and emissions are shaping the mobile access market with sustainable, eco-friendly solutions that move the needle closer to net zero emissions.

Undertaking LCAs to better understanding the exact environmental impact of digital and physical access products is critical for informing sustainable designs and deployments.

More importantly, sourcing vendors that are committed to sustainability through certifications, eco-friendly practices and dedicated to providing innovative green technologies is also critical to meeting sustainability efforts.

Continuing to incrementally adopt more sustainable solutions is a step in the right direction toward making security a core component of these efforts within an organisation. Partnering with manufacturers, integrators, and consultants that prioritise these goals is a critical part of ensuring they can be met.