Deutsche Post World Net starts global climate protection program GoGreen

Deutsche Post World Net aims to reduce its carbon footprint for every letter mailed, every container shipped and every square meter of warehouse space used by 30 percent by the year 2020. With this target, the No. 1 global logistics company is the first major company in its industry to set a quantifiable climate protection target.

"As the leading logistics provider and one of the world's largest employers, we acknowledge our broader responsibility in the battle against climate change, caused by industries and humans," said Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Frank Appel.

"Our GoGreen Program will help us be the obvious first choice for customers who seek climate-friendly logistics solutions." Today, two-thirds of the company's 100 biggest customers are already pursuing their own climate protection goals. The reference year for the Goup's efficiency target will be 2007.

To achieve its objectives, Deutsche Post World Net will progressively modernize its air and ground fleets. About 90 percent of the Group's air fleet will be replaced by modern, more fuel-efficient aircraft. In addition, state-of-the-art environmental technologies will be used to improve the energy efficiency of sorting centers and warehouses. The use of innovative technologies such as hybrid engines and route planning will be expanded to reduce the fuel consumption of the Group's road fleet.

The company's more than 500,000 employees will play a key role in the GoGreen Program: Deutsche Post World Net will start staff awareness campaigns to encourage employees to reduce their carbon footprint at work and at home through measures such as driver trainings or energy-saving classes. Since the climate protection goal for 2020 also applies to subcontractors, the Group will work together with them to develop methods to both track their emissions and identify efficiency-boosting measures.

Measuring, reducing and offsetting

The GoGreen Program's underlying approach will be a three-pronged method of assessing, reducing and offsetting carbon dioxide emissions. In order to measure the Group's carbon footprint on a regular basis and make achievements transparent, Deutsche Post World Net will set up a comprehensive carbon-accounting system.

To reduce carbon emissions each division has identified a number of business-specific measures that will be implemented in the coming months and years. In addition, the Group's new subsidiary DHL Neutral Services will offer consulting services to customers who want to reduce their carbon footprint.

Deutsche Post World Net will also expand its GoGreen shipping service, which allows customers to offset the carbon emissions produced when shipping their parcels and goods through internal and external climate-protection projects. The climate-neutral service, which has been available in Europe since 2006, will be extended to 17 countries in the Asia-Pacific region this year alone.