It has been estimated that the U.K.’s online passport application technology saved over 1,800 trees, 23 million litres of water, and 70,000 kilograms of carbon dioxide, such is the environmental impact. This application of digital technology is therefore seen as playing a significant contribution towards sustainability goals, helping to reduce the environental impact of the paper industry.
The data comes from the company Pasport-Photo.online and it reveal that the Passport Office’s roll-out of a paperless passport application service has had a substantial, and positive, effect on the environment.
The HM Passport Office piloted the digital passport application service in 2016. Since then, many British nationals have used the online platform. So much so that in 2022, the number of people who chose the digital routes dwarfed the paper ones.
The data relates to the number of people who applied for a UK passport by all passport routes from 1 January 2021 to 30 September 2022 under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
These data show, for 2021:
| Month | UK Digital Application Service | Post Office Digital Application Service | Post Office Tablet Application Service | UK Counter | Post Office Check and Send | UK Postal |
| January | 272,958 | 12,170 | 1,217 | 24 | 16,967 | 12,713 |
| February | 245,458 | 13,832 | 0 | 16 | 17,734 | 13,878 |
| March | 296,678 | 17,801 | 1,265 | 21 | 25,189 | 17,423 |
| April | 322,425 | 17,772 | 1,661 | 1,283 | 22,855 | 14,408 |
| May | 362,601 | 18,748 | 1,770 | 10,608 | 26,387 | 16,177 |
| June | 286,555 | 16,463 | 1,594 | 15,606 | 25,024 | 16,072 |
| July | 315,177 | 17,164 | 1,826 | 22,859 | 23,172 | 14,257 |
| August | 339,808 | 19,395 | 1,823 | 25,723 | 22,182 | 13,240 |
| September | 347,976 | 20,771 | 2,008 | 32,950 | 24,075 | 15,208 |
| October | 353,107 | 20,936 | 2,477 | 31,806 | 23,714 | 15,087 |
| November | 300,174 | 18,073 | 2,076 | 34,496 | 22,954 | 15,270 |
| December | 191,980 | 8,354 | 955 | 21,190 | 13,509 | 10,725 |
| Total | 3,634,897 | 201,479 | 18,672 | 196,582 | 263,762 | 174,458 |
And the relevant figures for 2022 indicate:
| Month | UK Digital Application Service | Post Office Digital Application Service | Post Office Tablet Application Service | UK Counter | Post Office Check and Send | UK Postal |
| January | 678,110 | 32,398 | 4,859 | 24,568 | 26,016 | 17,496 |
| February | 739,870 | 29,115 | 10,331 | 30,229 | 37,856 | 22,328 |
| March | 824,451 | 0 | 39,512 | 44,247 | 45,269 | 26,308 |
| April | 897,325 | 0 | 46,415 | 44,610 | 33,255 | 18,828 |
| May | 875,440 | 0 | 52,772 | 57,347 | 48,448 | 25,013 |
| June | 502,371 | 0 | 33,853 | 43,791 | 27,939 | 18,789 |
| July | 417,308 | 0 | 30,354 | 42,827 | 21,618 | 15,398 |
| August | 382,585 | 0 | 29,339 | 41,283 | 18,552 | 15,070 |
| September | 340,773 | 0 | 24,646 | 47,205 | 17,628 | 14,383 |
| Total | 5,658,233 | 61,513 | 272,081 | 376,107 | 276,581 | 173,613 |
The digital routes include the UK digital application service, post office digital application service, post office tablet application service, and the UK counter (online premium service). The trend indicates that the digital service is more popular than the paper one.
Of 6,818,128 passport applications from 1 January 2022 to 30 September 2022, 6,339,675 were made without paper forms. In fact, a single A4 sheet of paper requires the following:
- An average of 0.24 litres of water (assuming the paper is not recycled).
- 0.000125 of trees (one tree = 8,000 sheets).
- An emission of 0.00471 of carbon dioxide.
These figures provide the basis for estimating how much paper has been saved by using the online passport application service in 2022. This reveals that the Passport Office’s online passport application tool helped save an estimated 1,864 trees in 2022, conserving over 3,540,947 litres of water and reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 70,223 kg.
