Countries International Parcel Delivery Providers Strive For Carbon-neutral Delivery

Many initiatives are being tried, or fully implemented, by international couriers as they bid to reduce the impact of their activities on the environment as far as possible. Several operators have chosen to put a range of vehicles powered by alternative fuels into use alongside their existing fleets, so that they can measure the potential savings in carbon dioxide emissions.

Carbon offsetting programmes have been run by many in the field of worldwide delivery, but these have not tackled the root problem of the creation of harmful emissions in the first place. These emissions come from many other activities apart from simply moving parcels and packages. A large proportion originates from the heating and lighting of the vast warehouse-like premises which courier companies need to effectively carry out their sorting and dispatching activities.

Increases in efficiency in these static environments, however, are relatively easy to measure, and so, to begin to control. But the huge, and rising, demand placed on parcel delivery companies fleets of planes, trucks, vans, cars and railway rolling stock is a more difficult proposition, which demands much more imaginative solutions. Many delivery companies have undertaken trials of vehicles powered by alternative fuels, with electrically-powered vans and cars being among the first to be adopted widely. And as the shortcomings of this type of engine technology are addressed, there are sure to be fewer potential barriers preventing couriers from making the necessary investment.

The vehicles a courier company uses have greater demands placed upon them than those in practically any other sector. They therefore make very good test beds for determining whether more ecologically sound methods of powering a vehicle are likely to be viable long-term options for a wide variety of users. International parcel delivery and postal companies do not see the aim of offering carbon-neutral deliveries as some vague, far-off objective, however. In Finland, the countrys main provider of letter and parcel delivery services has pledged to cut the ratio of its carbon emissions to its turnover by 30 per cent from 2007 levels before the year 2020.

It has been estimated that the delivery of a single letter produces up to 21 grams of CO2. So any reduction a courier company can achieve in its CO2 output will depend heavily on how much of the harmful greenhouse gas can be eliminated from this particularly energy-intensive part of their operations.