Today An Post, the Irish postal provider, announced its commitment to The Climate Pledge, joining some of the world’s top companies in taking action now to reach net-zero carbon by 2040, a decade ahead of the Paris Agreement’s goal of 2050.
An Post announced its signing of The Climate Pledge, co-founded by Amazon and Global Optimism in 2019, at an event in its Dublin headquarters, hosted by An Post Chief Executive David McRedmond and attended by Amazon’s UK & Ireland Country Manager, John Boumphrey.
The Climate Pledge now has more than 400 signatories across the world, and they agree to:
- Measure and report greenhouse gas emissions on a regular basis.
- Implement decarbonisation strategies in line with the Paris Agreement through real business changes and innovations, including efficiency improvements, renewable energy, materials reductions, and other carbon emission elimination strategies.
- Neutralise any remaining emissions with additional, quantifiable, real, permanent, and socially-beneficial offsets to achieve net-zero annual carbon emissions by 2040 — a decade ahead of the Paris Agreement’s goal of 2050.
An Post recently announced it had reduced its carbon emissions by 12% year-on-year, and by 35% since 2009. Nearly a third of the company’s Ireland-based fleet runs on alternative fuel sources. An Post met its ambition to replace all lighting with energy efficient alternatives by 2022, and achieved zero waste to landfill for the fifth consecutive year, last year.
An Post Chief Executive, David McRedmond said: ‘’We believe that climate change demands urgent and universal action. We stand with our fellow signatories in committing to being net-zero carbon by 2040, ten years ahead of the Paris Agreement. By joining The Climate Pledge, we are reinforcing our commitment to sustainability, and we are excited to join a community that will share knowledge, ideas, and best practice to that end.”
An Post and Amazon also announced a five-year agreement between the two companies which will lead to the introduction of new delivery services and help to increase the speed and performance of Amazon’s last-mile, middle-mile and returns operations in Ireland. An Post’s commitment to decarbonise its fleet by 2030 is best-in-class.
Mr. McRedmond welcomed the signing of the agreement with Amazon which he said would bring benefits to An Post customers nationwide and further the growth of the company’s parcels and e-commerce business.
John Boumphrey, Amazon’s UK & Ireland Country Manager, said “We have been working with An Post since 2008, and our collaboration has supported Amazon’s ability to deliver millions of items to customer across Ireland. Our new fulfilment centre in Dublin holds hundreds of thousands of items at any time, and our Prime membership offers customers the ability to receive more orders within two days or quicker. The new partnership with An Post will means we can work together to reach even more customers with greater efficiency, meaning better deals and faster delivery speeds. I’m also really excited that An Post have joined The Climate Pledge and are on a path to decarbonising their fleet – a win for customers, businesses and the planet.”
