DHL: Carbon Neutral Supply Chains Possible, Takes Time

October 14, 2008

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Karl Feilder, CEO of DHL Neutral Services, told BusinessGreen that carbon neutral supply chains are possible, though Feilder prefers to see the move as “about saving money and becoming efficient.”

The company plans to cut emissions by 30 percent in 12 years. DHL Neutral Services has divided the carbon reduction program into four areas:

Assessment -
The company is installing IT systems to collect information of carbon outputs at all points in the supply chain and processing it automatically.

Reduction -
The company is initiating a series of efficiency measures, including measuring power more accurately, installing more accurate fuel gauges, and sharing warehouses with other logistics firms. Next month, the company will launch a pilot scheme to see how it can share trucking facilities with different retailers to decrease distribution distances.

Replacement -
The company wants to expand its fleet of electric vehicles to 15,000 in three years.

Neutralization
The company is currently buying offsets to help achieve carbon neutralization, but hopes this will be a short-term fix.

In March, the company launched DHL GoGreen Express in the Asia Pacific region which lets customers offset shipping emissions.

Last year, DHL introduced a reusable envelope for customers that ship and return legal-size documents.

DHL has done well in recent research that has graded shippers on environmental performance and sustainability reporting.

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