Cash payments are a source of pollution as they generate carbon dioxide. Italy ranks second in Europe, after Germany, for the total CO2 emissions produced by this type of payments with over 160.8 thousand tons, about 2.7 kg per inhabitant. Cashless ones, on the other hand, have a 21 percent lower carbon footprint than cash. This is according to a survey of merchants conducted by The European House - Ambrosetti and reported in the paper "Il Sole 24 Ore". The analysis shows that more and more customers are demanding digital payments to lead vendors to tolerate this form of payment. 8 out of 10 merchants accept cashless in addition to cash, although only a small percentage accept P2P modes, such as Paypal and Satispay. Of these, 58 percent have introduced this type of payment to please customers. In fact, without digital payments, merchants estimate a 26 percent loss of customers on average, with peaks of more than 60 percent in sectors such as apparel, bars and tobacco, and hotels and accommodations.
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