Green logistics: DPWN sets goal of 30 percent carbon footprint reduction through ‘GoGreen’ initiative

Logistics provider lays out several approaches for sustainable transportation and logistics processes

Jeff Berman, Group News Editor -- Logistics Management, 4/16/2008

BONN, Germany—With an eye on environmental best practices and transportation and logistics sustainability, Deutsche Post World Net (DPWN), the parent company of DHL, has rolled out an initiative focused on reducing its carbon footprint by 30 percent by 2020.

DPWN’s initiative, entitled the “GoGreen Program,” will focus on reducing its carbon footprint for every letter mailed, container shipped, and meter of warehouse space used, the company said. It added that it will take several measures to reach its proposed 30 percent carbon footprint reduction goal by 2020. DPWN claims that with this initiative it is the first global logistics company to set a climate protection target of this kind.

A DPWN spokesman told LM that as a logistics company with more than 500,000 employees in more than 220 countries and territories DPWN has a “special responsibility to use our core competencies to benefit society and to minimize the impact on the environment.” He added that DPWN launched its sustainability activities in 2001 and its climate protection program in February of this year.   

DPWN’s steps to reduce its carbon footprint include: replacing 90 percent of its air fleet with modern, more fuel efficient aircraft, including 48 Boeing 757 Special Freighter modern cargo aircraft, which require 20 percent less fuel per ton transported than the Boeing 727 predecessors; adding aerodynamic winglets to an initial six cargo aircraft to increase the amount of lift generated at the wingtip, which raises carbon efficiency by 2-to-5 percent; increasing the use of alternative fuels and propulsion units with bio-gas fueled heavy duty trucks, delivery vans, and heavy duty trucks with biodiesel fuel blends; using hybrid engines and route planning technologies to reduce fleet fuel consumption; making changes in transportation methods or “modal shifts” from air to road, sea and rail, and road to rail; and route optimization and application of intelligent traffic guidance systems.

The company also cited environmental technologies it will implement to improve the energy efficiency of sorting centers and warehouses. Some of them include: increasing the proportion of regenerative energy it uses in its global operations at the DHL air cargo hub at the Leipzig/Halle Airport, which provides an annual savings of 4,000 metric tons of carbon compared with standard systems. It does this by producing electricity in solar cells, and covering internal needs—in terms of electricity, heating, and cooling energy—by using combined heat and power generators.  

In terms of the GoGreen Program’s methods for carbon reduction, DPWN said it will assess, reduce, and offset carbon dioxide emissions. Its approach to measuring its carbon footprint and make achievements transparent will be comprised of a carbon-accounting system. And each DPWN division has identified various business-specific measures that will take effect in the future and are designed to reduce carbon emissions.

DPWN also said that a new subsidiary—DHL Neutral Services—will provide consulting services for customers interested their carbon footprint. DPWN said it will also expand its climate neutral GoGreen shipping service, which allows customers to offset the carbon emissions produced when they ship parcels and goods through internal and external climate-protection projects.

Adrian Gonzalez, director of ARC Advisory Group’s Logistics Executive Council, commended DPWN for outlining this program and establishing an aggressive target.

And he also noted that endeavors like this present shippers with options and benefits, too, explaining that many shippers, especially those with a strong commitment to sustainability, expect their suppliers and partners, like logistics service providers, to demonstrate a similar commitment.

One major challenge for DPWN with its GoGreen initiative, said Gonzalez, is measuring carbon footprint. 

“Measuring carbon footprint is an ongoing challenge for companies, because standard metrics and methodologies are still being developed,” he said. “It appears that DPWN recognizes that metrics are important and they’re developing a carbon-accounting system.  I assume their methodology will be aligned with the work being done by ISO and the other standards bodies.”

The concept of carbon “offsetting” is the only viable way for shippers to address climate change in the short term aside from not shipping, said Joe Madden, principle of Sustainable Transport Systems, a green transportation and logistics consulting firm in Santa Cruz, California. He added that it is vital, because the infrastructure in the transportation logistics system will largely rely on fossil fuels for the foreseeable future.

Madden explained that that option to offset emissions has three primary benefits.

“It measures emissions and ‘what gets measured, gets managed,’” he said. “By quantifying emissions and identifying sources, organizations can take steps to address the issue.”

The other benefits of offsetting emissions, said Madden, are that it channels funds into climate friendly projects—like renewables—that will become the backbone of a low carbon economy. He also said that money can be channeled into preserving carbon sinks like forests that naturally sequester carbon. 

The third benefit is that it helps individuals and organization to connect their actions to greenhouse gas emissions (GHG).  In this sense, he said most people and organizations have a limited understanding—and think only of their driving or direct operations, as an example—of how their actions contribute GHG emissions.