IPC leads environmental sustainability initiative
The International Post Corporation (IPC) announced today at its bi-annual Board meeting in New York City, its plans to develop a three-tier program to address environmental sustainability among its member posts. The program will focus on developing common sector-wide definitions and measurement systems; conducting stakeholder research and communicating sector-wide advances in environmental sustainability throughout the postal industry.
“Climate change is no longer an issue of debate,” said Jean-Paul Bailly, chairman and CEO of Groupe La Poste in France and chairman of the IPC Board. “Two prominent areas for concern to postal operators and our industry stakeholders are the operation of extensive road and air transport networks and issues related to direct mail, a strategically critical business for posts.”
Mr. Bailly added, “Because of the sector-wide urgency of the issue, the IPC Board will devote its annual conference this May to develop a common environmental sustainability initiative and map the way forward for the postal industry.” The conference, Leadership through Sustainable Development: Postal Industry Challenges and Opportunities will take place on 29 and 30 May, 2008 in La Chapelle en Serval, France. CEOs representing 24 member postal organizations and several selected CEOs from both inside and outside the industry are expected to attend.
Last month, IPC conducted a members’ forum on the subject of environmental sustainability, where it was decided that IPC should take a leadership role in providing the platforms for members to come together to define the way forward for the sector.
IPC has been a leader in providing postal delivery measurement systems for nearly 20 years, we are the natural partner for the postal industry and it makes sense that we are the organization to develop a common system for environmental measurement and research among the posts,” said Herbert-Michael Zapf, CEO and president, IPC.
Based on the “Planet Me” program developed by TNT, Netherlands, the forum also addressed the importance of engaging employees in their corporate environmental campaigns. Dr. Zapf added, “Collectively, IPC members employ over 2.4 million people and by extending awareness to families and friends of employees, there is the potential to harness and mobilize millions of people to change their behavior. “
The IPC member posts are committed to becoming more efficient by optimizing networks and operational processes in order to boost energy productivity. Many posts are piloting alternative fuel vehicles, including electric, hybrid, hydrogen and bio-fuels.
Several IPC members have already launched environmental sustainability programs within their organizations. Some initiatives include:
Royal Mail is focused on reducing its carbon footprint. For the past 18 months, it has had 100 percent renewable electrical energy, derived from wind, and methane from land fill. Royal Mail introduced the first carbon neutral product this year, a parcel with a slight surcharge for offsetting the carbon footprint. In just three months, the environmentally-friendly product grew to forty percent of web-based parcel sales at Royal Mail.
This May, USPS launched a major initiative that prevents the equivalent of more than 15,000 metric tons of climate change gases, based on the recycled content of 500 million packages and envelopes provided to customers each year. These environmentally-certified Express Mail and Priority Mail boxes and envelopes also are 100 percent recyclable. Through USPS recycling and waste prevention programs, more than 1 million tons of wastepaper, cardboard, cans, plastic and other materials are recycled each year. Since 2004, more than 2,300 tons of computers and parts have been recycled. USPS operates the world's largest fleet of alternative fuel vehicles — more than 36,000 — that can use clean fuels such as ethanol, compressed natural gas, electricity and biodiesel.
Deutsche Post World Net (DPWN) in Germany is also tackling the challenges in front of them. With more than 550,000 people in over 220 countries and territories, DPWN is the world’s largest logistics company and they are well aware of their unique responsibility and role in reducing emissions. In accordance with the Kyoto Protocol, the company made a commitment to cut the greenhouse gas emissions of its road fleet in Europe by five percent below 1990 baseline levels by 2012. To reach that goal, DPWN is raising CO2 efficiencies in its operations by optimizing routes, training drivers and using renewable fuels. DPWN also offers customers an option to ship their parcels in a climate-neutral way.
La Poste, France, has a goal of reducing its mail transport related CO2 emissions by 15 percent over the next four years. La Poste has made a significant investment in this area, including a conversion from traditional petroleum vehicles to electric cars and other zero-emission vehicles. La Poste also hosts a very successful driver training program for their delivery personnel. The training aims at reducing petrol consumption by at least five percent on average. The goal is to train 60,000 drivers by the end of 2009.
TNT in the Netherlands has launched an extensive program called “Planet Me”. The program consists of three pillars: Count carbon – involving a measurement plan for all operations involving a certified managed system for measuring CO2; Code orange – a set of binding policies to govern corporate behavior including “lead by example” and a push to modernize the fleet with green vehicles; and Choose orange – a pillar focused on innovation and challenging employees to adopt the program both at work and at home. TNT is dedicated to informing and involving their 160,000 employees in this corporate initiative and they believe that this extension to employees and families is key to the success of the TNT programs.
Since 2005, Canada Post Corporation has invested $3.5 million annually in energy conservation projects, including lighting retrofits and temperature controls to reduce consumption. It has removed 90 percent of its underground fuel tanks, eliminated 89 percent of ozone-depleting substances, and acquired 16 hybrid vehicles. Plans are underway to refurbish its physical facilities and motorized fleet in a manner substantially more environmentally sensitive. The corporation will seek environmentally-friendly replacements for its fleet, focusing on hybrid vehicles.
