Environmental Leader

FedEx released its 2008 Global Citizenship Report (PDF) and announced that it plans to reduce aircraft emissions and increase vehicle fuel efficiency by 20 percent over the next 12 years.

FedEx reported it reduced aircraft CO2 emissions by 3.7 percent per available ton mile over the past three years. The company also announced that it has started replacing Boeing 727 aircraft with Boeing 757 planes, which reduce fuel consumption up to 36 percent while providing 20 percent more payload capacity.

The company says it has exceeded its goal of purchasing 25,000 megawatt hour of renewable energy credits and has generated more than 1,000 megawatt hours of on-site solar energy.

Since 2005, FedEx says it has improved its FedEx Express vehicle fuel efficiency by 13. 7 percent, and saved more than 45 million gallons of fuel by converting more than one-fourth of the FedEx Express fleet to smaller, fuel-efficient vehicles.

FedEx says its most common hybrid, the E700 hybrid electric trucks, improve fuel economy by 42 percent, reduce GHG emissions by about 25 percent and cut particulate pollution by 96 percent compared with conventional vehicles.

Fast Company recently reported that the company has fallen short on its plans for hybrid vehicles.

Earlier this year, FedEx broke ground on a 1.4 megawatt solar facility in Germany and completed a solar installation at its distribution center in California.  FedEx says its three solar-powered facilities in California eliminate almost 3 million pounds of CO2 emissions annually.

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