The whole world has experienced a partial transition to electronic transactions which can be conducted in one moment with a single plastic card. They have a range of potent advantages which make people forget about their cash for as long as they can use a debit or credit card. Electronic transactions are easier to track, consequently, money is easier to put taxes on. It is neither convenient nor safe to carry a purse full of cash planning to buy something expensive. Plastic cards, certainly, can be a risk too, if we consider cyber criminals who may get an access to our money using malware and electronic devices. But another potential advantage of plastic cards is an opportunity to save the forests.
It turns out that issuing cash is a process which needs a lot of energy and raw material. As deforestation exacerbates, it is important to replace wood with other materials in the industries which need cutting trees on the large scale. To mention just a few consequences of deforestation, we shall take the increased amount of smog in the cities, poor processes of cooling and condensing water from the environment, erosion of soils, and the destructive impact of UV rays.
The whole world has more or less adopted the system of cash-free payments. Some people already find an inability to pay with a debit card in some places inconvenient. Therefore, if the transition has already begun, we may assume that cash can be entirely substituted by plastic cards in future. Giving up cash is not the prior way to save the environment from humans, yet it is quite a reasonable one.