On the Road to Net Zero with the UK DVLA

Addressing Climate Change

• Managing secure national credentials: The UK’s Driver and Vehicle Licencing Agency is responsible for registering and licensing the UK’s drivers and vehicles. Thales has been the DVLA’s supplier of over 100 million secure cards since 2012. 
• Environmental progress: Since 2018 Thales has achieved reductions of over one third in the carbon footprint of the UK’s driving licence, tachograph and residence permit cards supplied to the UK’s Driver and Vehicle Licencing Agency (DVLA).
• Meeting critical environmental challenges: Like many industries, the identity document sector, including the DVLA, faces the imperative to reduce dependency on fossil fuels. Embracing this need, Thales is actively working towards developing and implementing new processes to meet this environmental challenge.

Environmental Initiatives

2010: Thales introduces a tool to calculate and enable a carbon offsetting program. 
2019: UK DVLA issues a tender with ESG requirements in the scoring evaluation. 
2020: DVLA and Thales sign a new contract that includes a compensation program for secure cards. 
2019: Thales sources 100% renewable electricity for production sites. 
2020: Thales achieves ISO 50001 certification for production sites. 
2023: Thales and DVLA conduct a recycling study.  
2024: First deliveries of the new generation chip for electronic residence permits.

Approach to cutting carbon emissions 

While efforts are made to reduce environmental impacts, maintaining security and durability remains crucial. 
Thales shares the UK government and DVLA’s desire to reach net zero. By 2040, Thales aims for net-zero operations-related CO2 emissions, with a 50% reduction by 2030.

Thales has implemented key initiatives to prioritize eco-design principles in its identity card portfolio. An example of this is the reduction in size of the contactless microcontrollers embedded in the UK's tachograph and residence cards. This innovative change has resulted in a significant decrease in CO2 microcontroller emissions, while maintaining the integrity of applications and security features.

Furthermore, Thales has demonstrated its commitment to energy efficiency by ensuring that its card manufacturing factories are accredited to the ISO 50001 standard. These factories exclusively utilize 100% renewable electricity, which accounts for over 70% of their total energy consumption. As a result of these improvements, manufacturing-related emissions (scope 1 and 2) have been reduced by over 80% since 2018.

To address the remaining emissions associated with UK DVLA cards, Thales invests in high-quality carbon offsetting programs through recognized organizations like Climate Impact Partners. For the UK DVLA contract, these offsetting initiatives include activities such as forest planting in the UK, mangrove restoration in Kenya, and distribution of clean energy stoves in Bangladesh. 

Achievements and collaboration

Thales supports the UK DVLA’s protocols for achieving net zero by sharing transparent, credible, and quantified figures on the outcomes of its environmental initiatives. 

Since 2018, Thales has successfully achieved a reduction of over one third in their carbon emissions. This collaboration demonstrates a shared commitment to sustainability and sets a positive example for industry-wide environmental initiatives.

Thales and the UK DVLA have joined forces and are actively collaborating to explore innovative solutions aimed at further reducing CO2 emissions and minimizing environmental impacts.