FedEx Express to offset envelope emissions via BP programme

FedEx Express has added carbon offsets to its FedEx Envelope services, pledging to counter the environmental impacts of more than 200m document shipments each year, at no extra charge. The company said today that it was making its envelopment deliveries anywhere in the world “carbon neutral” by investing in global projects to sequester or displace the equivalent greenhouse gas emissions to those generated by the shipment of the envelopes.

FedEx said it was the first global express firm to offer carbon-neutral envelope shipping at no extra charge for the customer.

Part of FedEx’s “EarthSmart” sustainability initiative, the programme will see FedEx calculating the emissions of its FedEx Envelope shipping service on annual basis, then it will purchase the equivalent amount of carbon dioxide offset credits.

The credits will come from oil company BP’s non-profit carbon management programme, BT Target Neutral, which invests in environmental programmes to “neutralise” carbon emissions.

FedEx said projects being supported would include a biogas farm facility in the Netherlands, a reforestation project in Tanzania and a landfill gas project in Thailand.

Rajesh Subramaniam, the seinor vice president of global marketing for FedEx Services, said: “By making FedEx Envelope’s shipping carbon neutral, we are extending our support for renewable energy solutions – innovations today that we hope will be standards in the future.”

The carbon neutral programme will cover all FedEx Envelope shipping options, including FedEx First Overnight, FedEx Priority Overnight, FedEx Standard Overnight, FedEx 2Day, FedEx Economy 2Day A.M. and FedEx Express Saver.

“Milestone”

BP Target Neutral’s global director, Andrea Abrahams, said the agreement with FedEx was a “milestone” for her company.

“It is one of many examples in which businesses throughout the world can play their part in reducing the impact of carbon emissions on the planet,” she said.

BP Target Neutral was set up in 2006 by the oil company, which covers the agency’s operating costs.

Other mail and express companies, including FedEx rival DHL and European parcel firms like GLS, already offer carbon offsetting for some products for a premium fee.

In recent months a number of postal services have begun to push for free offsets, to respond to increasing demand for “green” shipping, including La Poste and Swiss Post.