One cornerstone of PostNord’s sustainability strategy is the commitment to reduce the climate footprint by 40%. This reduction target was among the first to be approved by the steering committee of the Science Based Targets initiative. The target is considered science based as it is in line with the decarbonisation to keep global temperature increase well below 2 degrees Celsius.
The reduction target covers scopes 1, 2, and 3 and aims to reduce the absolute emissions by 40%, between 2009 and 2020. With a business as usual scenario the carbon footprint was expected to rise by 28% considering both increasing parcel volumes and decreasing letter volumes. It shows the challenge of a 40% target in absolute terms.
PostNord has identified six priority areas in which to act: better utilised vehicle capacity; increased fuel efficiency; investments in electric vehicles; using more biofuels; increasing the use of trains and reducing air freight; and making buildings more energy efficient. Furthermore, with over half of the carbon emissions generated by subcontractors, PostNord monitors and follows up the performance of the suppliers.
PostNord has already made considerable progress towards the target. The 2018 outcome was a 35% CO2 reduction of the total emissions and that is on target to reach 40% by 2020.