FedEx's absolute carbon dioxide emissions rose around 4 percent from 2010 to 2011, from 15.1 million to 15.8 million metric tons, according to the company's 2011 corporate sustainability report.
The company's Scope 1 and 3 emissions rose 4.9 percent and 1 percent respectively over that time period. FedEx attributes the jumps in these metrics to increases in shipping volumes, which it says came with improved global economic conditions and strong demand for its service. FedEx's Scope 1 emissions account for the vast majority of its carbon footprint. The rise in this scope from 13.1 million to 13.8 metric tons explains most of the overall increase in emissions.
Despite the growth in overall emissions, FedEx says it has made progress in "decoupling" its economic growth from its direct greenhouse-gas emissions. As evidence, the report says that the company's Scope 1 emissions "increased by only 3 percent in FY11 compared with FY10" while its average daily package volumes at FedEx Express and FedEx Ground increased 5 percent, and its revenues increased 13 percent. However Environmental Leader's calculations put the company's Scope 1 emissions increase from 2010 to 2011 at around 4.9 percent.
FedEx's Scope 2 emissions fell less than 1 percent year-on-year from 996,872 metric tons in 2010 to 989,874 metric tons in 2011, the report says. The company attributes the drop to energy efficiency efforts at its facilities.
Highlights of this efficiency drive include the FedEx Express World Headquarters in Memphis receiving LEED Gold certification in January 2011, under the LEED for Existing Buildings system; a FedEx data center in Colorado Springs, Colo., receiving LEED Gold classification for new construction; and two FedEx stations in Houston, Texas, receiving LEED Silver in the fall of 2011. The certifications of five other FedEx facilities are pending, the report says. The company has pledged to secured LEED rating on all its new buildings.
FedEx also installed a green roof the size of three football fields at its cargo facility at Chicago O'Hare airport, the report says.
The company's normalized emissions from aircraft dropped 4 percent year-on-year, the report says. In 2010, FedEx aircraft fleet emitted 1.35 lbs of CO2 per available ton miles (the tons of carrying capacity by miles traveled). In 2011 this figure dropped to 1.3 CO2 lbs per available ton miles.
The company previously had a goal of reducing this metric by 20 percent by 2020, compared to 2005 levels. FedEx has increased this goal to a 30 percent reduction in intensity by 2020 over 2005 levels. The company's cumulative reduction in this metric since 2005 is now at 13.8 percent, the report says. The majority of this reduction was due to the replacement of older, less fuel-efficient aircraft with newer planes (see graph, below).
FedEx has a 2020 goal of improving the fuel efficiency of the FedEx Express surface delivery vehicle fleet by 20 percent, using 2005 as a baseline year. Having achieved a 16.6 percent improvement in the fleet between 2005 and 2011, the company says it is still on track to meet this goal. In 2010, the company achieve a 15.1 percent improvement over 2005 levels.
By the end of financial year 2013, FedEx will have more than 11,000 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter vans in operation. These vans are between 70 to 100 percent more fuel-efficient than the vehicles they replace, FedEx says. The company also boasts 114 Reach composite-body trucks in its fleet. The Utilimaster-made tricks cut fuel use by up to 35 percent compared to most conventional walk-in vans, FedEx says.
Over the last few years FedEx has been increasing its use of renewable energy. Since 2005, the company has built up a portfolio of 18 GW of solar power at six facilities in California, New Jersey and Germany. The latest, a 1.13 MW solar array at a FedEx Ground site in Rialto, Calif., went online in May 2011 and meets around 30 percent of that facility's energy needs. It has produced just over 1 GWh of energy, the report says.
The FedEx Express Oakland, Calif., hub installed five 100 kW Bloom Energy fuel cells in 2010. The cells can run on almost any hydrocarbon fuel—ethanol, biodiesel, methane, and natural gas. In addition to the renewable energy generated on-site, FedEx Office purchased 33,333 renewable energy credits to offset emissions. FedEx Ground recently purchased 1,855 Green E-certified, “NewMix” National Wind RECs, the report says.
The company recycled 47.9 million lbs of material in 2011 compared to 41.5 million lbs in 2010. FedEx's recycling rate rose 10 percentage points year-on-year, from 26 percent of waste in 2010 to 36 percent in 2011.
