Industry emission cuts exceed expectations
An International Post Corporation (IPC) executive has paid homage to its members who have helped slash the industry’s CO2 emissions by almost 600,000 tonnes. In 2009, the postal sector became the first global services industry to set itself an emissions reduction target of 20% based on 2008 figures, to be achieved by 2020.
The IPC’s Postal Sector Sustainability Report 2010 revealed that nearly all of the 20 participating postal operators improved their carbon management scores based on 2008 levels, leading to a reduction in CO2 emissions of a total 597,000 tonnes.
Pieter Reitsma, manager of sustainability at the Corporation, was “extremely happy” with the results, which had “exceeded ambitious targets”.
Speaking to Post&Parcel, Reitsma said: “We have seen amazing results with management proficiency, as well as the actual carbon reduction. It’s beyond what we thought, and what we hoped for.
“If we have a 12-year target to reduce emissions by 20%, we thought we may see a reduction of one-twelfth in the first year, and maybe double that for the following year – we have seen a greater reduction than that.
Post&Parcel asked Reitsma whether the figure of almost 600,000 tonnes was significant enough. He said the cuts were the equivalent of wiping a town the size of Gravesend off the map – which is populated by 50,000 people. He added: “Our industry produced 7.7m tonnes last year, so we have made a reduction of 7.14% in twelve months.”
One question posed by many industry experts is how sustainable can the industry eventually become? Reitsma said: “Our aim is to reduce carbon emissions generated by the industry by 20% by 2020. We think it is important to set our targets ambitiously, but they need to be feasible. We want to show you actual results and improvements with hard facts. Our results show this is what we have done.
“This programme is the first of its kind in the services sector, where we work together, and in the first year we have achieved great results. We are certainly not lagging behind – we are at the forefront.”
This year Österreichische Post (Austrian Post) and Poste Italiane announced their participation in the programme, bringing the total number of reporting posts to 22.
