As a postal and logistic solutions provider, it is clear we have an impact on the environment, and that our operations emit carbon as well as other emissions. In the 'Environmental value' chapter, we explained our strategy to reduce our environmental impact, the development in our performance and our short and long-term targets. In our risk management process we evaluate physical, regulatory and reputational climate change-related risks. We identified that our main risks relate to not meeting our long-term reduction targets. No significant physical and regulatory risks climate change related risks were identified during 2020.
Year ended at 31 December | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
CO2 efficiency (scope 1 and 2 emissions in grams CO2e per km) | 226 | 231 | 245 | 249 | |
CO2 efficiency improvement (scope 1 and 2; base year 2017) | base year 0% | (2%) | (8%) | (10%) | |
Share of emission-free delivery of mail and parcels in the last-mile | not reported | 17% | 19% | 20% |
Since 2019 we steer on two key performance indicators to monitor our progress in reducing environmental impact, CO2 efficiency of our own operations and emission-free delivery of parcels and mail in the Benelux, by ourselves and by our delivery partners (scope 3).
Progressing on these two metrics cover the main elements of our business to achieve our long-term formal absolute and relative CO2 targets until 2030, which are validated as being in line with the Paris climate agreement by the Scienced based Target Initiative (SBTi).
In line with our long-term planning, we expect to scale up the share of electric vehicles in our fleet in 3 - 5 years time. We expect to include this indicator in our annual target setting and steer more actively on the progress on our long-term target.
We measure our CO2 efficiency as the total CO2 emissions from our own operations, both fleet and buildings, expressed per kilometre transported. The total transported kilometre include the kilometres of all our networks and both motorised and unmotorised (foot and bike). We monitor the progress on our targets through the relative improvement of the CO2 per kilometres compared to the base year 2017.
In 2018, we introduced a target to deliver 100% of our mail and parcels in the last-mile in the Benelux by 2030, which we report as the share of emission-free kilometres compared to the total kilometres transported. This includes kilometres from our own operations and of our delivery partners and includes also the collection of mail and parcels with small trucks and vans and other light vehicles.
The share of emission-free last-mile delivery of mail and parcels was 20% in 2020, which was mainly a result of the 50 million kilometres we travelled by foot and bicycle to deliver mail in the Netherlands. Integration with Sandd and Covid-19 both resulted in an increase in mail volume in 2020 which resulted in a more efficient network and more emission-free kilometres. Due to the increase in volume, deliverers had to reload bikes more often. We also started to replace vans with electric motor cycles and e(-cargo) bikes in our mail operations. We expect to see a further increase when we implement the next phase of the New mail route.
More information about our CO2 efficiency and emission-free delivery can be found in the 'Environmental value' chapter.
Year ended at 31 December | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Natural gas and heating fuel | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 0 |
Fuel for large trucks | 20 | 20 | 22 | 25 | 30 |
Fuel for small trucks and vans | 13 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 11 |
Total gross scope 1 emissions | 41 | 36 | 37 | 40 | 40 |
Compensated emissions heating fuel (CO2 credits) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Compensated emissions for natural gas usage (CO2 credits) | (2) | (6) | (6) | (5) | 0 |
Total net scope 1 emissions | 39 | 30 | 31 | 35 | 40 |
Electricity consumed | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
District heating | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Total gross scope 2 emissions | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Compensated emissions | (4) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Total net scope 2 emissions | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Company cars | 4 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 3 |
Business travel by air | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Employee commuting | not reported | 19 | 19 | 21 | 21 |
Outsourced transport by road | 130 | 114 | 113 | 113 | 129 |
Outsourced transport by air | 85 | 73 | 56 | 49 | 46 |
Total gross scope 3 emissions | 220 | 211 | 194 | 187 | 199 |
Compensated emissions company cars | (4) | (5) | (6) | (4) | (3) |
Compensated emissions business travel by air | (1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Compensated emissions employee commuting | not reported | 0 | 0 | (21) | (21) |
Total net scope 3 emissions | 215 | 206 | 188 | 162 | 175 |
Total gross emissions | 265 | 247 | 231 | 227 | 239 |
Total net emissions | 254 | 236 | 219 | 197 | 215 |
Our gross scope 1 emissions were similar to 2019. While our carbon footprint of our transport activities increased, we realised a decrease in the emissions from natural gas an heating fuel. In 2020 we decided to source the natural gas we use sustainably by using the market-based instrument of purchasing Guarantees of Origin in relation to green gas. This led to a decrease of emissions by 5 kilotonne CO2.
The 6 kilotonnes increase in transport related CO2 is mainly related to the carbon emissions of our large trucks, due to the higher volumes of parcels we transported. In total, we transported 28% more kilometres by large trucks. This increase was a combination of volume growth and an increased share of the total kilometres by our own fleet, compared to outsourced transport. The growth in kilometres was partly offset by the introduction of renewable diesel for around 10% of the total diesel consumption. In addition, we expanded our large truck LNG fleet in 2020 which partly replaced less fuel efficient diesel trucks.
Our gross scope 2 emissions remained stable at 0 kilotonnes in 2020 (2019: 0). Our nominal electricity consumption slightly increased by 80 million kWh in 2020 (2019: 77 million kWh). The reasons for the increase have been detailed in the section 'Energy efficiency of buildings'. We stimulate the use of sustainable electricity in our buildings and use the market-based instrument of purchasing Guarantees of Origin to ensure our electricity consumption is based on renewable energy. This resulted in gross scope 2 emissions of 0.
The gross scope 3 emissions grew by 6% compared to 2019. The majority of these emissions are related to outsourced transport activities both in the Benelux and beyond.
The total emissions from outsourced transport increased by 13 kilotonnes to 175 in 2020. Main developments that contribute to this 8% increase are:
More outsourced activities in the Benelux as result of the growth in e-commerce, particularly at large transport and parcel delivery in Belgium (+8.5 ktCO2);
Business growth at Spring and increase of e-commerce export from the Netherlands resulting in volumes to be transported. (+4 ktCO2)
Decrease of international emissions as result of shifting from air to road for more European destinations, together with relative growth to European destinations compared to international volumes (-4 ktCO2)
Divestment in Spotta (-2.5 ktCO2)
Data quality improvements for smaller logistic networks (+7 ktCO2).
Due to covid-19 our office employees had to work from home for the majority of the year. This led to a decrease in the use of company cars and employee commuting. This was offset by an increase in employee commuting due to the growth of our workforce.
We purchased Gold Standard credits to offset 21 kilotonnes of carbon emissions from company cars and business travel and employee commuting, resulting in net scope 3 CO2 emissions of 175 kilotonnes (2019: 162 kilotonnes).
Year ended at 31 December | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Energy consumption buildings (in TJ) | 457 | 404 | 417 | 357 | 374 |
Energy consumption fleet (in TJ) | 467 | 489 | 521 | 576 | 657 |
Total energy consumption | 925 | 893 | 939 | 933 | 1,031 |
The energy we use in buildings is produced for the heating of our buildings, running our machines and installations and for lighting. The energy we consumed in our buildings increased compared to previous year by 5%. Main reason was increase in volume. Due to the scale up at our Parcel operation we were delivered 19% more parcels than in 2019. Consequently, we increased our sorting capacity leading to an increase in operating ours of our sorting centres and therefore an increase in energy consumption. Comparable to parcels, we saw also volume increase in greeting cards and gifts in both waves of the pandemic at Mail. This led to extra delivery days and therefore extra sorting capacity. On the other side we continued to invest in LED lighting in our operational buildings which reduces energy consumption by around 50%. With solar panels on the roofs of most of our parcel sorting centres, we generate almost half of the electricity demand of these centres ourselves in a renewable way.
Energy consumption of our own fleet increased by 14% in 2020 compared to 2019. This increase in mainly due to increasing volumes in our parcel network, requiring more transport activity from large trucks. The increase was partly offset by the investments in less energy intensive LNG large trucks. In addition, we rolled out electric three-wheel scooters at Mail which replaces more energy intensive gasoline scooters. We also saw load factors going up in our parcel delivery, which increases the energy efficiency per parcel.
The expected growth in our activities will likely result in a higher energy demand in coming years. We aim to minimise this by being as efficient as possible in our operations. At the same time, we focus on using less energy intensive vehicles. For our electricity demand, we continue to invest in solar panels to generate as much renewable energy as possible ourselves. This not only reduces our environmental impact, but also stabilises our cost base in an increasingly volatile energy market.
Year ended at 31 December | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Energy consumption from natural gas (in TJ) | 121 | 96 | 92 | 73 | 84 |
Energy consumption from heating oil (in TJ) | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
Energy consumption from electricity (in TJ) | 320 | 297 | 315 | 277 | 285 |
Energy consumption from district heating (in TJ) | 14 | 8 | 8 | 5 | 4 |
Total energy consumption from buildings (in TJ) | 457 | 404 | 417 | 357 | 374 |
Share of solar energy from total energy consumption in buildings | 0% | 0% | 5% | 6% | 7% |
Energy efficiency (in TJ /1,000 m2) | 0.56 | 0.51 | 0.58 | 0.47 | 0.49 |
Weather conditions and longer opening hours of sorting centres led to higher energy use. Heating buildings by natural gas and heating oil used 13% more energy. Our electricity consumption grew by 2.9%, which is low compared to the increase in volumes we processed. The LED lighting we installed at most of our parcel sorting centres partly offset the extra energy consumed by our sorting machines.
2020 was a productive year in terms of solar energy. The share of renewable electricity compared to our total energy consumption grew from 6% to 7%. This represents around 49% of the parcel sorting centres' total annually energy consumption which is 10% higher compared to 2019.
Due to the more intensive use of our sorting centres, the energy consumption per square meter slightly increased compared to 2019.
Year ended at 31 December | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Energy consumption from large trucks and vans (in TJ) | 266 | 275 | 297 | 340 | 419 |
Energy consumption from small trucks and vans (in TJ) | 190 | 204 | 213 | 226 | 230 |
Energy consumption from scooters and bikes (in TJ) | 11 | 11 | 11 | 9 | 8 |
Total energy consumption from fleet (in TJ) | 467 | 490 | 521 | 576 | 657 |
Energy efficiency (in MJ/km) | 5.3 | 5.3 | 5.5 | 5.6 | 6.4 |
The energy consumption of our large trucks increased by 23% compared to 2019. This was a result of the increase in volume in combination with transporting a higher share of kilometres with our own trucks, compared to outsourced kilometres. On the other hand we invested in LNG large trucks that are more efficient in terms of energy consumption. A part of these LNG trucks replaced diesel trucks and at the same time we also used part of these for our fleet expansion.
The energy consumption of small trucks marginally increased during 2020. As the majority of our extra volumes was delivered by partners, the growth in kilometres was relatively small. In addition, we increased the load factors of our parcel delivery vans.
Due to a slightly lower amount of electric kilometres with e-cargo bikes and the replacement of gasoline scooters by electric scooters, the energy consumption from scooters and bikes decreased by 1 TJ. Electric scooters consume less energy compared to gasoline scooters.
Due to the increase in use of large trucks, the share of large truck kilometres in our total mix increased. This resulted in an increase of the energy consumed per kilometre by 14%.
The developments in air quality are directly related to the type of vehicles we use. Therefore, the explanation of trends in the table above is combined with the explanation in trend in the table on our compliance with euro norms below. The calculation of the emissions are based on general factors per type of euro norm and is not specified further. As we do not have further information on underlying drivers to steer on, we do not set targets for these metrics.
Year ended at 31 December | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
NOx emissions (in kg) | |||||
Large trucks | 25,654 | 25,167 | 25,986 | 30,165 | 34,294 |
Small trucks and vans | 13,766 | 12,501 | 9,949 | 9,117 | 8,908 |
Total NOx emissions | 39,420 | 37,668 | 35,935 | 39,282 | 43,202 |
NOx efficiency (g/km) | |||||
Large trucks | 0.94 | 0.87 | 0.83 | 0.83 | 0.76 |
Small trucks and vans | 0.27 | 0.24 | 0.19 | 0.16 | 0.15 |
Total NOx efficiency | 0.50 | 0.46 | 0.43 | 0.42 | 0.42 |
PM10 emissions (in kg) | |||||
Large trucks | 352 | 361 | 382 | 443 | 529 |
Small trucks and vans | 263 | 267 | 269 | 291 | 296 |
Total PM10 emissions | 615 | 628 | 651 | 734 | 825 |
PM10 efficiency (g/km) | |||||
Large trucks | 0.01 | 0.01 | 0.01 | 0.01 | 0.01 |
Small trucks and vans | 0.01 | 0.01 | 0.01 | 0.01 | 0.01 |
Total PM10 efficiency | 0.01 | 0.01 | 0.01 | 0.01 | 0.01 |
Year ended at 31 December | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Large trucks | |||||
Vehicles complying with Euro 6 | 68% | 68% | 73% | 69% | 81% |
Vehicles complying with Euro 5 | 32% | 32% | 27% | 31% | 19% |
Small trucks and vans | |||||
Vehicles complying with Euro 6 | 12% | 46% | 76% | 81% | 85% |
Vehicles complying with Euro 5 | 88% | 54% | 24% | 19% | 15% |
Total | |||||
Vehicles complying with Euro 6 | 19% | 48% | 76% | 80% | 84% |
Vehicles complying with Euro 5 | 81% | 52% | 24% | 20% | 16% |
In 2020, we continued to further increase the combined percentage of vehicles complying with Euro 6 standards. In 2020 we saw a considerable increase in the percentage of Euro 6 vehicles, as a result of our investment in new LNG trucks.
The absolute emissions from large trucks increased due to growth in kilometres in relation to the volume growth at parcels. The increase in absolute NOX emissions was 14%. In line with the developments in carbon emissions and energy consumption, the air polluting emissions of small trucks and vans marginally increased compared to last year.
The total relative NOx emissions in g per km remained stable at 0.42. While both large and small trucks show improvement per kilometre, the total number is influenced by the increase of the number of kilometres driven by large trucks relative tot the totl kilometres driven.
The scale up of our electric fleet will help us improve our absolute air polluting emissions, which is one of the elements covered in our Zero2030 programme. With the progress on our targets to become emission-free in our parcels and mail delivery by 2030 in the Benelux, and to deliver emission-free in 25 city centres by 2025, we will also significantly reduce our air polluting emissions, particularly in our small truck fleet and the fleet of our delivery partners. Scaling up our transition to increase the share of electric vehicles in our fleet requires a combination of sufficient availability of suitable vehicles in the market and adjusting both infrastructure and logistics in the coming years.
Year ended at 31 December | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ISO 14001 certification (percentage of total FTE working in certified sites) | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% |
Our environmental management systems help us to continuously improve our environmental performance and management across the company. As in prior years, all PostNL employees worked in ISO14001-certified locations.
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