DHL Targets Zero Logistics-Related Emissions by 2050

Deutsche Post DHL Group has set a goal to reduce all of its logistics-related emissions to net zero by the year 2050. This applies both to the company’s own activities and to those of its transport subcontractors, DHL says.

The new emissions target comes as DHL achieved its previous climate target — to improve carbon efficiency by 30 percent over the 2007 baseline — in 2016, four years ahead of schedule.

In a blog post, DHL CEO Frank Appel says the company’s environmental management program, called GoGreen, has business benefits as well as environmental benefits.

“‘Going green’ can also produce a solid competitive advantage, one that can make our business sustainable and successful for years to come,” Appel writes. “The demand for green products and processes along the value chain is on the rise. And while improving our own operations, we’ve developed solutions in all areas of green logistics. More and more customers are relying on us for sustainable and efficient supply chains.”

DHL has also set four interim milestones to be achieved by 2025:

• Globally, DHL will increase the carbon efficiency of its own activities and those of its transport subcontractors by 50 percent, compared to the 2007 baseline.
• At the local level, DHL aims to improve the lives of people where they live and work using clean transport solutions. DHL will operate 70 percent of its own first- and last-mile services with clean pick-up and delivery solutions, for example by bike and electric vehicle.
• More than 50 percent of sales will incorporate Green Solutions, making customers’ supply chains greener.
• DHL will train and certify 80 percent of its employees as GoGreen specialists by 2025, and actively involve them in its environmental and climate protection activities. The company also plans to join with partners to plant 1 million trees every year.

In an earlier email exchange, DHL’s executive vice president of corporate responsibility Christof Ehrhart told Environmental Leader that the company recently added nearly 1,000 electric vehicles to its fleet, bringing that total to more than 13,500 in use network wide. DHL even purchased an electric vehicle manufacturer so it could add electric vehicles to the fleet faster.

DHL has a range of measures in place to increase fuel efficiency and cut carbon emissions, “from modernizing our air and ground fleets, optimizing our transportation networks and routings, through to our in-house development of electric vehicles (the StreetScooter) designed specifically for urban deliveries,” Ehrhart said.

DHL says GoGreen also supports the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, in particular Goal 11 (sustainable cities and communities) and Goal 13 (climate action).