Reduce our environmental impact

We are aware of the impact we have on the environment, and in recent years have been working to reduce this by integrating environmental objectives into our overall strategy. Throughout 2023, we continued to develop and implement initiatives aimed at improving our broader environmental impact and contributing to our reputation as a company with a clear roadmap to become sustainable. We remained focused on combatting climate change by steering on greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction, enabling us to further progress towards our long-term, science-based reduction targets.

We also take a broader view on our environmental impact, in line with the wider societal discussion taking place on this topic. The protection and restoration of ecosystems and biodiversity are crucial to enhance resilience in the face of population growth, intensified land use, and climate change. At PostNL, we are dedicated to operating in harmony with nature, which means we are committed to conserving and, when necessary, restoring biodiversity and ecosystems in relation to our own operations. Our primary impact stems from the use of our vehicle fleet, which results in CO₂ and nitrogen emissions. We are dedicated to reducing emissions of CO₂, nitrogen and particulate matter by transitioning to emission-free vehicles for the last mile of our operations, with a target of accomplishing this no later than 2030. By 2025, we aim to achieve zero emissions for deliveries in at least 25 inner cities. These efforts will undoubtedly contribute to the mitigation of climate change, biodiversity loss and air pollution.

In April 2023, we published the PostNL Green Bond Report 2022, our fourth, which provides stakeholders with insights into the progress and impact of investments made using the proceeds of the Green Bond, allocated to finance new and existing climate projects. In doing so, we contribute to two Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations, namely 'decent work and economic growth' and 'climate action'. The report can be read in full here. We have also published a Taskforce on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) report 2022, in which we disclose the relevant aspects of the TCFD recommendations in the context of our operations and value chain in more detail. The report can be found here.

During the year, we offset any remaining CO₂ we emitted by purchasing Gold Standard credits and VCS credits. Through these credits, we invest in environmentally friendly projects in developing countries. These include projects to install wind turbines or solar panels, or to plant new forests. From 2024, we will no longer use large-scale carbon offsetting, but instead will make more effective investments to make our company more sustainable.

Throughout 2023 we worked towards formally re-enforcing our climate mitigation strategy, resulting in the submission of updated ambitious emission reduction targets to the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) at the end of the year. The update was planned, as our current SBTi targets were validated in 2019 and the SBTi requires targets to be resubmitted every five years. We have submitted a long-term, science-based target that includes significant emission reduction levels across our value chain to a residual level in-line with the 1.5^oC scenario by 2040.

In 2023, we were once again ranked as one of the most sustainable companies in the transport and logistics sector worldwide by the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI), scoring the highest in the Environment & Climate section within our sector. We also significantly improved our biodiversity score compared to 2022, partly thanks to an extensive analysis carried out to implement improvements in this area. This benchmark evaluates listed companies on economic, social and environmental transparency and performance.

We achieved an A- score in the CDP benchmark, a global environmental disclosure system. While this score is unfortunately slightly lower than our score in 2022, we continue to be at the forefront of our sector in terms of our sustainability benchmarks, based on the strong ratings and scores we receive from independent analysts, including from DJSI and EcoVadis.

We continue to use our four-pillar approach to reduce our environmental footprint by reducing our impact on climate change and broader environmental topics. Our focus areas are: network efficiency, clean kilometres, sustainable buildings and facilities, and green products and services. Our developments in these areas in 2023 are discussed further in this chapter.

Performance summary

Climate change

PostNL CO₂ efficiency as indicated
2022 - 2023, Target 2030

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Our CO₂ efficiency in grammes per kilometre improved by 11% compared to 2022 and was 5% ahead of our 2023 goal. This was due to the ongoing greater use of renewable fuels combined with fewer diesel kilometres driven, and the shift to electric vehicles (see below for more details). In 2023, renewable diesel (HVO100) and bio-LNG for large trucks were used in 58% of the kilometres we drove (2022: 54%).

In 2023, as in 2022, we helped our logistics partners make the switch to electric transport, providing financing and starting bonuses for those who transitioned from diesel to electric vans. They are also able to make use of charging infrastructure at our parcel sorting centres.

PostNL Share of emission-free last-mile delivery of parcels and mail in the Benelux
2022 - 2023, Target 2030

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Across Mail in the Netherlands, last-mile delivery is carried out in almost all cases by a combination of foot and bike, or by e-bike. This means that our mail deliverers make the largest contribution to our emission-free delivery. In 2023, over 47 million kilometres, or 82% of all mail delivery kilometres, were emission-free in the last mile (2022: 78%). We deliver to over 95% of all addresses in the Netherlands emission-free in the last mile.

We use cars to deliver mail in the most rural areas, which is where we also have to drive a (relatively) high number of kilometres to deliver each mail item. To make these rural routes emission-free, we are switching to electric cars and are installing charging points at our locations. By the end of 2023, we had more than 180 electric cars on the road, helping us cut the amount of diesel we use for mail delivery in the last mile by 30% year-on-year (320,000 litres in 2023 versus 461,000 litres in 2022).

From 1 January 2025, municipalities in the Netherlands are allowed to classify an urban area as being a zero-emission zone, where vans and trucks that pollute are prohibited. We expect that around 30 to 40 Dutch cities will have zero-emission zones, although when they come into effect will vary from city to city.

As a vital link in the delivery chain, we are very well prepared for this development. We are making steady progress in reducing our environmental footprint, and in recent years have invested continually in new initiatives focused on emission-free delivery, including electric vehicles and charging capacity across a number of Dutch cities. We expect to scale up the share of electric vehicles in our own fleet as quickly as feasible, and by 2025 aim to be able to deliver parcels and mail emission-free within at least 25 city centres in the Netherlands and all those cities with zero-emission zones.

PostNL Carbon footprint In Gross CO₂ e
2017, 2022 - 2023, Target 2030

1. Base year
2. 2017 includes carbon offsets for buildings
3. The target for 2030 is based on our current formal SBTi Target. We have submitted new and more ambitious long-term Science-Based Targets, which were submitted at the Science Based Target initiative, but not yet formally approved. For more information, we refer to the chapter <Environmental value>.

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We reduced absolute gross scope 1 carbon emissions by over 15% compared to 2022. This change was positively influenced by a number of factors, including an increase in the use of renewable diesel and bio-LNG and the roll-out of additional e-vehicles. The electricity we source is also sustainably generated, through solar and wind energy (including guarantees of origin), resulting in our scope 2 emissions being reported as zero.

For outsourced transport, our scope 3 emissions relate to networks within Parcels, Mail in the Netherlands and CBS (international), as well as employee commuting, business travel and company cars for employees. In total, our scope 3 emissions decreased by 9% compared to 2022.

For our SBTi submission, we put forward targets aimed at reducing over 90% of our scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions by 2030 compared to our base year 2021. For our scope 3 emissions, we set a reduction target of around 45% compared to the base year. Our new targets are far more ambitious than our previous targets, which aimed for a 60% reduction in our scope 1 and 2 emissions and a 10% reduction in scope 3 emissions by 2030 compared to a 2017 base year.

These updated targets reflect how seriously we take our environmental objectives, as we continue to invest in, develop and implement initiatives that help us reduce our broader environmental impact.

In addition, we increased the coverage of scope 3 GHG emissions' categories compared to our current scope. This means that we have added emissions from the following categories in the submission:

• Purchased goods and services
• Capital goods
• Fuel and energy-related emissions (including well-to-tank emissions)
• Waste
• Upstream leased assets.

Due to a submissions backlog at SBTi, we do not expect to have our new targets validated by the SBTi until the second quarter of 2024. We will include the reporting of these new categories in our future Annual Reports to provide transparency about the progress against our new targets.

At PostNL, we have made concrete annual reduction projections towards 2030 in line with the SBTi criteria. Our long-term strategy is to continue investing in and focusing on emission reduction after 2030, building upon our current strategic approach, and expect to realise emission reduction to a level that is in line with the 1.5^oC scenario by 2040. Uncertainties in our targets primarily relate to the dependency of progress on carbon reduction in our supply chain, as well as technological developments in relation to zero-emission long-haul transport. We currently do not foresee negative side effects in realising our carbon reduction targets.