Our environmental value KPIs are CO2 efficiency and share of emission-free delivery. These are covered in more detail in the 'Environmental value'
chapter.
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 climate change-related risks were identified during 2022.
Year ended at 31 December | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
CO2 efficiency (scope 1 and 2 emissions in grams CO2e per km) | 231 | 245 | 249 | 203 | 152 |
Share of emission-free delivery of mail and parcels in the last-mile | 17% | 19% | 20% | 20% | 22% |
Since 2019 we have steered on two KPIs 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 our delivery partners (scope 3).
Making progress 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 Science based Target Initiative (SBTi).
In line with our long-term planning, we expect to scale up the share of electric vehicles in our own fleet as quickly as feasible, which requires infrastructure preparation, including charging stations. Since 2021 we have included these KPIs 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 kilometres include the kilometres of all our networks, both motorised and unmotorised (foot and bike). We monitor the progress on our targets through a comparison with the annual target setting and steer actively on the progress. The CO2 efficiency was 152 grammes per kilometre in 2022, which was mainly a result of renewable fuels. In 2021 we scaled the use of renewable diesel at the expense of diesel in both small and large trucks, and the use of Bio-LNG at our large trucks fleet. In 2022 we used 98% more HVO100 and 27% less diesel compared to 2021.
In 2018, we introduced a target to deliver 100% of our mail and parcels emission-free 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 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 22% in 2022, which was mainly a result of the 50 million kilometres we travelled by foot and bicycle to deliver mail in the Netherlands.
More information about our CO2 efficiency and emission-free delivery can be found in the 'Environmental value' chapter.
Year ended at 31 December | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Natural gas and heating fuel | 6 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Fuel for large trucks | 22 | 25 | 30 | 24 | 18 |
Fuel for small trucks and vans | 9 | 10 | 11 | 10 | 7 |
Fuel for motorcycles | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Total gross scope 1 emissions | 38 | 41 | 41 | 34 | 26 |
Compensated emissions | (6) | (5) | (0) | (0) | (26) |
Total net scope 1 emissions | 32 | 37 | 41 | 34 | 0 |
Electricity consumed | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
District heating | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Total gross scope 2 emissions | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Compensated emissions | (0) | (0) | (0) | (0) | (0) |
Total net scope 2 emissions | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Company cars | 6 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
Business travel by air | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Employee commuting | 19 | 21 | 21 | 23 | 19 |
Outsourced transport by road | 113 | 113 | 129 | 141 | 125 |
Outsourced transport by air | 41 | 35 | 34 | 30 | 29 |
Total gross scope 3 emissions | 179 | 174 | 187 | 196 | 175 |
Compensated emissions | (6) | (25) | (23) | (25) | (175) |
Total net scope 3 emissions | 173 | 149 | 164 | 171 | 0 |
Total gross emissions | 217 | 215 | 228 | 231 | 201 |
Total net emissions | 205 | 185 | 205 | 205 | 0 |
Our gross scope 1 emissions were 8 kilotonnes lower than in 2021, a decrease of 25%, and we achieved a decrease in the emissions from all our transport activities. Since 2020 we have sourced the natural gas we use sustainably by using the market-based instrument of purchasing Guarantees of Origin in relation to green gas. However, our nominal gas usage decreased significantly in 2022 for multiple (business) reasons, as detailed in the 'Energy efficiency of buildings' section of the 'Environmental value' chapter.
Compared to 2021, we drove approximately the same number of kilometres with our own fleet. The 8 kilotonnes decrease in transport-related CO2 is mainly related to the carbon emissions of our large trucks, due to the use of renewable fuels. In total we drove 25% less kilometres on diesel and 106% more kilometres on HVO100, a renewable fuel. Implementing renewable fuels and replacing petrol scooters with e-scooters enabled us to reduce our emissions significantly in 2022.
Our gross scope 2 emissions remained stable at 0 kilotonnes in 2022 (2021: 0). Our nominal electricity consumption remained stable in 2022 with 65 million kWh(2021: 66 million kWh). 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.
PostNL uses the market-based method for the formal reporting of our scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions. In accordance with the GHG protocol, we also calculated our location-based scope 2 emissions, which amounted to 26 kt CO2 in 2022 (2021: 28 kt). The decrease is explained by more electricity generated from our solar panels. More detailed information can be found in the 'Energy efficiency of building' section of the 'Environmental value' chapter.
Our gross scope 3 emissions decreased by 11% compared to 2021, equal to 21 Kt CO2. The majority of these emissions were related to outsourced transport activities both in the Benelux and beyond, and employee commuting.
The total emissions from outsourced transport decreased by 18 kilotonnes to 153 in 2022. Main developments that contribute to this 10% decrease are:
Less outsourced activities in the Benelux as a result of volume developments, particularly at large transport (-16 kt CO2)
Less internationally outsourced transport by road and air activities due to volume developments (-6 kt CO2)
Business growth at smaller logistic networks as a consequence of growth in B2B activities (+5 kt CO2)
Our employee commuting decreased compared to 2021. This can be explained by a decrease in our workforce, as well as improved calculations. Additional insights in 2022 and more accurate data helped us improve our calculations. Both factors led to a decrease of 4 kt CO2.
We purchased Gold Standard and VCS credits to offset all our carbon emissions from scope 1, 2 and 3, resulting in net GHG emissions of 0 kilotonnes (2021: 231 kilotonnes).
Year ended at 31 December | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Energy consumption buildings (in TJ) | 417 | 357 | 374 | 350 | 326 |
Energy consumption fleet (in TJ) | 521 | 576 | 658 | 680 | 677 |
Total energy consumption | 939 | 932 | 1,032 | 1,030 | 1,004 |
We use energy to heat our buildings, run our machines and installations, and for lighting. Our gas consumption in 2022 decreased by 27 TeraJoules (-8%) compared to 2021, which is equal to 1 million m3 gas. Different (business) developments and investments contributed to this decrease:
Closing preparation locations at Mail in the Netherlands, which were relatively gas intensive buildings (-0.5 mln m3)
Reduction of gas usage following the installation of hybrid heat pumps in multiple sorting centre (-0.1 mln m3);
Adjustments made following the 'Flip the switch' campaign to switch lights off, when possible, and more attention paid to the use of heating buildings. In addition, we introduced an energy dashboard as part of energy management.
2022 was a relatively warm year compared to 2021, leading to less energy used on heating.
Energy consumption of our own fleet remained stabled compared to 2021. We aim to minimise our energy consumption by being as efficient as possible in our operations. The increase in large truck fleet consumption is a result of a marginal increase in driven kilometres with our own large trucks.
We saw a decrease in energy use from our scooters, as we continued to roll out e-scooters at Mail in the Netherlands to replace more energy intensive petrol versions. We saw a decrease in energy used by our small trucks, which is due to the ongoing electrification of our fleet. We continue to invest in solar panels to generate as much renewable energy as possible ourselves, helping to both reduce our environmental impact and stabilise our cost base in an energy market with rising prices.
The figures above cover the energy consumption of our own operations. As our delivery operations are also partly executed by delivery partners, we aim to report on their energy consumption from 2023 onwards.
Year ended at 31 December | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Energy consumption from natural gas (in TJ) | 92 | 73 | 84 | 93 | 66 |
Energy consumption from heating oil (in TJ) | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
Energy consumption from electricity (in TJ) | 315 | 277 | 285 | 251 | 253 |
Energy consumption from district heating (in TJ) | 8 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
Total energy consumption from buildings (in TJ) | 417 | 357 | 374 | 350 | 326 |
Share of solar energy from total energy consumption in buildings | 5% | 6% | 7% | 7% | 11% |
Energy efficiency (in TJ /1,000 m2) | 0.58 | 0.47 | 0.47 | 0.40 | 0.38 |
Our gas consumption fell by 29% (see energy consumption paragraph above). The sustainable investments we made during the year largely explain this decrease. Our electricity consumption remained relatively stable at 253 TJ in 2022 (2021: 251 TJ). See the energy consumption paragraph above for more information.
The share of renewable electricity compared to our total energy consumption increased to 11% in 2021, representing around 52% of our parcel sorting centres' total annual energy consumption, an 8% increase compared to 2021. These numbers are corrected for electricity required for our sorting centres' charging infrastructure.
Due to the decreased gas usage, our energy consumption per square meter decreased by 8% compared to 2021.
Year ended at 31 December | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Energy consumption from large trucks (in TJ) | 297 | 340 | 419 | 448 | 461 |
Energy consumption from small trucks and vans (in TJ) | 213 | 226 | 231 | 227 | 214 |
Energy consumption from scooters (in TJ) | 11 | 9 | 8 | 5 | 1 |
Energy consumption from bikes (in TJ) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Total energy consumption from fleet (in TJ) | 521 | 576 | 658 | 680 | 677 |
Energy efficiency (in MJ / km) | 5.5 | 5.6 | 5.8 | 5.8 | 5.8 |
The energy consumption of our large trucks increased by 3% compared to 2021, while energy consumption from small trucks and scooters decreased. The increase in energy consumption from large trucks was a result of the slight increase in large trucks' driven kilometres. Our fleet size remained stable in 2022.
The energy consumption of small trucks decreased during 2022, as a result of slightly less kilometres driven and the continued electrification of our fleet. This trend is expected to continue as we further invest in replacing fossil fuel vehicles with e-vehicles.
In 2022, route optimisation to make our network more efficient led to a slight increase in the load factor of our trucks, increasing the average weight of the vehicles on the road. This resulted in slightly higher fuel consumption, which offset the effect of switching to more energy efficient vehicles.
As mentioned above, we continued to invest in the electrification of our scooter fleet, which resulted in lower energy consumption from our scooters.
Energy consumption from bikes remained rounded zero. The above results in a comparable energy efficiency of fleet per kilometre.
Developments in air quality are directly related to the type of vehicles we use. This is why the explanation of trends in the 'Air pollution from own fleet' table is combined with the explanation in the 'Compliance with Euro emission norms' table. The emission calculations are based on general factors per type of euro norm and are not specified further. As we do not have further information on underlying drivers to steer on, we do not set targets for these metrics.
Download spreadsheetYear ended at 31 December | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Large trucks | |||||
Vehicles complying with Euro 6 | 73% | 69% | 81% | 86% | 86% |
Vehicles complying with Euro 5 | 27% | 31% | 19% | 14% | 14% |
Small trucks and vans | |||||
Vehicles complying with Euro 6 | 76% | 81% | 85% | 97% | 99% |
Vehicles complying with Euro 5 | 24% | 19% | 15% | 3% | 0% |
Total | |||||
Vehicles complying with Euro 6 | 76% | 80% | 84% | 95% | 97% |
Vehicles complying with Euro 5 | 24% | 20% | 16% | 5% | 2% |
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. As we make progress on becoming emission-free in our parcel and mail delivery by 2030 in the Benelux, we will also significantly reduce our emissions, particularly from 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 years to come.
Download spreadsheetYear ended at 31 December | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
NOx emissions (in kg) | |||||
Large trucks | 25,986 | 30,165 | 34,294 | 32,284 | 31,399 |
Small trucks and vans | 9,949 | 9,117 | 8,908 | 7,682 | 6,876 |
Total NOx emissions | 35,935 | 39,282 | 43,202 | 39,966 | 38,275 |
NOx efficiency (g/km) | |||||
Large trucks | 0.83 | 0.83 | 0.76 | 0.63 | 0.59 |
Small trucks and vans | 0.19 | 0.16 | 0.15 | 0.14 | 0.13 |
Total NOx efficiency | 0.42 | 0.42 | 0.42 | 0.37 | 0.36 |
PM10 emissions (in kg) | |||||
Large trucks | 382 | 443 | 529 | 562 | 567 |
Small trucks and vans | 269 | 291 | 296 | 277 | 273 |
Total PM10 emissions | 651 | 734 | 825 | 839 | 840 |
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 |
In 2021, we continued to further increase the combined percentage of vehicles complying with Euro 6 standards. In 2022 we saw an increase in the percentage of Euro 6 vehicles, mainly as a result of our investments in new electric small trucks. Our large trucks fleet remained stable, with the main investments made in 2021.
The absolute NOx emissions from large trucks decreased, mainly due to more kilometres driven with Euro 6 large trucks, which are more efficient. The decrease in absolute NOX emissions was 4%. This shows the sustainability improvements of our own fleet.
The total relative NOx emissions in g per km decreased to 0.36, resulting from the efficiency of both small and large trucks. The total number is influenced by the increase in the number of kilometres driven by large trucks relative to the total kilometres driven.
Absolute PM10 emissions were stable in 2022 compared to 2021 . As a result of the relatively stable driven kilometres, the absolute emissions from small trucks decreased slightly. This is a result of more electric small trucks. In the coming years we expect the absolute PM10 emissions to decrease as a consequence of the growing electric fleet. Large truck emissions slightly increased as a result of a slight increase in the number of kilometres driven with our own large trucks.
Relative PM10 emissions remained stable in 2022 compared to prior years. As in previous years, the relative emissions were 0.01 grammes per kilometre.
The scope of our NOx and PM10 emissions we report on includes the fleet of our own operations. Due to the lack of data, we are not yet able to report on the air pollution metrics for outsourced transport. In addition, we are currently only able to report the emissions from the internal combustion engine. Due to the lack of generally accepted reporting standards and methods, we do not report the emissions for braking and tire wear.
Year ended at 31 December | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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. To the best of our knowledge, we had no environmental violations and therefore did not incur any fines in 2022, as well as in prior years. This underscores the effectiveness of our environmental management system.
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