Global postal industry to measure carbon footprint

The carbon footprint of the global postal industry will be published for the first time to coincide with the Copenhagen climate change talks this December.

The International Post Corporation (IPC) announced yesterday that it is to publish 2008 carbon emissions data for 21 of the world's leading postal operators in the first ever postal sector sustainability report.

The report will include in depth carbon data from many high-profile delivery firms, including Australia Post, Deutsche Post DHL, Royal Mail Group and the United States. The metrics will be presented as total CO2 in tonnes per €1,000 (£879) turnover; total CO2 in tonnes per kg of post per km travelled; and total CO2 in grams per item.

According to the trade group, IPC members deliver 80 per cent of global mail volumes, operating a delivery fleet of 850,000 vehicles and operate nearly 100,000 building facilities around the world.

Alyson Warhurst of Warwick University, UK, a member of the United Nations Global Compact’s Human Rights Working Group, praised the postal sector as the " first ever service industry to measure carbon proficiency and issue a comprehensive report".

"This initiative leads the way in producing a collaborative industry response to customers, who expect their suppliers to measure carbon systematically and consistently," she added.

Jean-Paul Bailly, chairman of IPC and chief executive of La Poste, France, said he hoped the industry's approach would act as a blueprint for other global sectors.

"The focus for our first year has been carbon, but we hope to eventually expand the system in future years to include wider issues relating to employees, society and ethical supply chains," he said.

Herbert-Michael Zapf, chief executive of IPC, said he expected more postal firms to sign up to next year's report. "We believe that participants in the system will grow in coming years as more posts realise the benefits of best practice exchange and a measurement system that was designed specifically with this sector in mind," he said. "The system can be used by all postal operators, regardless of size or what stage they are at in their environmental programmes. "