Royal Mail to Decrease Carbon Emissions with the Use of Electric Vehicles

(Credit: Royal Mail)

Royal Mail, the leading provider of postal and delivery services in the UK, has launched a new environmental management plan, which includes a long-term target to reduce its average carbon emissions per parcel it delivers in the UK from 205gCO2e today to 50gCO2e by implementing new initiatives like the use of electric vehicles.

Thirteen percent of Royal Mail’s overall emissions are from “final mile” deliveries and the goal is to reduce this to net zero through initiatives including:

• Net Zero deliveries: Using more electric vans for final mile deliveries, with 5,500 vans by Spring 2023
• Net Zero operations: 100% renewable electricity across the Royal Mail business, reducing reliance on domestic flights and increasing the use of rail
• Circularity: Using the circular economy through Parcel Collect service
• Collaboration: Calling for standardized industry-wide reporting on CO2e per parcel, and collaborating with partners to speed up the roll out of electric and low emission vehicles across the UK

The company has also brought forward its Net Zero target by 10 years to 2040 and is committing to near term emissions targets in line with climate science, reducing absolute Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 25% by 2025-2026, and Scope 3 emissions by 25% by 2030, from a 2020-2021 base year.

In 2019, the United States Postal Service (USPS) began using seven Ford E-450 based all-electric step vans for deliveries in California with help from Motiv, a provider of all-electric medium duty fleet chassis. 

More recently, FedEx announced plans to be carbon neutral by 2040 and made an investment of $2 billion into electric vehicles, energy-efficient buildings, and deploying onsite green energy among other things.