UPS doubles carbon intensity goal for 2020
UPS today released its 12th annual Sustainability Report announcing that in addition to reducing overall carbon emissions in 2013, the company also met its 2016 goal of reducing its air and ground fleet’s carbon intensity by 10 percent three years early. Thus, the company has set a new goal to achieve a 20 percent reduction in carbon intensity from transportation by 2020. The 2013 report documents UPS’s ongoing efforts to increase sustainability through its “Committed to More™” approach. Noting that sustainability is often discussed in terms of doing less, UPS is committed to efficiently providing more – for customers, the environment, and communities around the world. The report also highlights the continued achievement of the company’s greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction goals, as well as the measurable impact of its humanitarian initiatives.
“As a global logistics company dependent on vehicles and fuel to move nearly 17 million packages and documents a day, sustainability and growth are inextricably linked,” said Scott Davis, UPS chairman and chief executive officer. “Our ability to grow our global shipping volumes and reduce total carbon emissions should be a signal to business that it is possible to do more for the environment while also serving more customers and adding more value.”
For the second year in a row, successful execution of UPS’s global GHG reduction strategy allowed the company to deliver more goods, while generating fewer emissions. In 2013, absolute carbon emissions decreased 1.5 percent from 2012, even as global shipping volume increased 3.9 percent during the same timeframe.
UPS’s current 3,647 alternative fuel and advanced technology vehicles worldwide continue to drive GHG reductions and serve as a “rolling laboratory” to test, optimize and deploy new-generation vehicles. In 2013, UPS ramped up use of cleaner-burning natural gas vehicles across the U.S., adding 249 heavy-duty tractors fueled by liquefied natural gas (LNG) by year’s end. The company is on target to deploy more than 1,000 LNG tractors by the end of 2014. Additionally, UPS’s current natural gas tractor fleet is running more than 3.2 million kilometres (2 million miles) per week.
In 2013, UPS’s alternative fuel and advanced technology vehicles worldwide logged more than 88 million kilometres (55 million miles) and avoided the use of 21.9 million litres (5.8 million gallons) of conventional gasoline and diesel. Since 2000, the fleet has logged more than 560 million kilometres (350 million miles) and avoided using 130 million litres (34.5 million gallons) of conventional gasoline and diesel. The savings put the company well on its way to reaching a goal of driving 1.6 billion kilometres (1 billion miles) in alternative fuel and advanced technology vehicles by the end of 2017.
