Government owned postal corporation, Australia Post has this week announced its 2030 Sustainability Framework, revealing new targets to reduce carbon emissions and keep resources in use across its fleet, properties and operations over the next five years.
Australia Post’s new 2030 Framework sharpens its focus on reducing the more challenging carbon emissions in its transport network, having already achieved a 20 per cent emissions reduction and a 39 percent reduction in waste to landfill since financial year 2019, while still accelerating its approach to circularity, with the target it is striving for being net zero emissions by 2050.
Australia Post says it has committed to four key targets under the 2030 plan, including making an additional eight per cent reduction in Scope 1 emissions by 2030, compared with its 2025 baseline, and adds that it is driven by further electrification of its fleet, an expanded rollout of electric delivery vehicles and electric trucks as well as an increased use of low-carbon liquid fuels.
It also says it will Increase the use of installed onsite solar capacity from around 14MW to 30MW by 2030.
It also intends to maintain 100 per cent renewable-matched electricity, while reducing the proportion of grid energy consumption at operational sites.
Australia Post says it will also maintain Scope 3 emissions at 2025 levels through to 2030, while its parcel volumes are expected to increase during this period, which will be achieved by working with air freight partners, contractors and suppliers to reduce their transport carbon emissions.
Australia Post says it will prioritise lower-emissions vehicles, renewable energy integration and route optimisation across its national network, while ecognising that transport is the largest contributor to its carbon footprint,
Chief sustainability officer at Australia Post, Richard Pittard said that the program is about upgrading the operation for the future.
“We’re moving beyond incremental improvements to focus on the structural changes that will have the greatest impact, particularly across transport, energy and resource use,” said Pittard.
“Reducing emissions in a network as large and complex as ours is not simple. It requires electrification, low-carbon fuels, renewable energy and smarter logistics but just as importantly, it requires partnership across our supply chain,” he added.
“We’re also rethinking how we use materials. By embedding circular principles into how we operate, using less, using longer and using again we can reduce waste within our business and explore how our national network can help Australians do the same,” Pittard said.
