DPD is to offer customers free carbon neutral shipping from July in a move that will cost its parent company £4.2m a year.
The commitment, known as Total Zero, means that the company will offset the carbon emissions produced by the 2.5 million parcels it carries every day, but at no extra cost to the customer.
It reckons it will be the first parcel carrier to offer free carbon neutral shipping – it will cost parent company GeoPost about £4.2m (5m euros) a year Europe-wide.
DPD said the carbon neutral commitment would be achieved through a triple mechanism: measuring emitted carbon, reducing the carbon produced by DPD and carbon offsetting.
DPD UK was awarded the Carbon Trust Standard in 2010 after reducing its carbon emissions by 14 per cent in the previous three years.
[asset_ref id=”1462″] Dwain McDonald
Chief executive Dwain McDonald said: “We created Total Zero because we recognise that the highly carbon-intensive logistics industry needs to reduce its carbon footprint and its impact on the planet.”
“Our emissions are already lower than those of our competitors because parcels shipped on our European road network produce up to eight times less CO2 than those shipped by air. We will carry on looking at every aspect of our business so that we can continue to significantly reduce our emissions per parcel year-on-year.”
The move was welcomed by DPD customer ASOS. Chief executive Nick Robertson said: “As a company we are committed to carbon neutrality, having been carbon neutral since 2009, and so we are delighted by the announcement of Total Zero by DPD. This is a great initiative by a key supplier and our customers will love the fact that parcels shipped via DPD will be carbon neutral from July onwards, and at no extra cost to them or us.”
Total Zero will apply to business and consumer shipments to all destinations around the globe from the five major markets of France, Germany, United Kingdom, Netherlands and BeLux.
In parallel to the Total Zero initiative, DPD parent company GeoPost will offset non-avoidable CO2 emissions through a partnership with French offset partner CDC Climat. Remaining carbon emissions of approximately 500,000 tonnes each year will be offset for five major markets. Carbon credits will be used to compensate for greenhouse gas emissions emitted by the business.
