(Oslo, 22 March 2011) By 2015, Norway Post aims to have reduced its CO2 emissions by 30 per cent. Its goal is to be number one among the world’s mail companies.
Norway Post wants to be an environmental leader in the mail and logistics industries and is today launching a concrete environmental plan that aims to reduce Norway Post’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 30 per cent by the end of 2015. This reduction equals more than 150,000 tonnes of CO2 - the equivalent of 370,000 truck journeys between Trondheim and Oslo each year. Norway Post will thus meet the targets set in the Norwegian parliament’s Climate Settlement.
Norway Post has identified 10 specific areas in which CO2 cuts can be made. These measures cover a wide range, from the use of electric cars to the optimisation of driving routes.
”The transport sector is one of the most environmentally harmful industries and emissions are increasing. So we in Norway Post have decided to implement our own measures. After mapping the emissions of all our operations, we have prepared a detailed plan showing how we can cut more than 150,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions each year,” says Dag Mejdell, the CEO of Norway Post.
New way of thinking
Mr Mejdell believes that Norway Post’s environmental focus represents a new way of thinking, and he points to environmentally
friendly vehicles as the most effective individual measure. Eighty per cent of the mail distributed in Norway is sent by train
when possible. In Trondheim city centre, Norway Post is introducing mail distribution without CO2 emissions by replacing mail cars with alternative vehicles such as bicycles and trolleys. This is an important measure because
around 20 per cent of Norway’s CO2 emissions come from road traffic.
In 2008, the world’s mail companies agreed that the industry should reduce its total CO2 emissions by 20 per cent by 2020. Norway Post has higher ambitions and is aiming for a 30 per cent cut by 2015. According to the Norwegian parliament’s Climate Settlement, Norway is to help reduce global emissions by 30 per cent and two-thirds of these cuts are to take place in Norway.
”Norway Post is genuinely interested in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, but positive additional effects are that a focus on the environment produces financial gains and that we meet our customers’ demands for environmentally efficient solutions,” says Mr Mejdell.
New electric cars
Norway Post has today signed an agreement with Ford to buy 20 new electric cars. These cars are the first of their kind and
have almost the same capacity as petrol- or diesel-driven cars.
“When such big customers as Norway Post choose to buy Ford Transit Connect Electric cars, they are supporting Ford’s further development and production of cars that run on electricity,” says Tormod Skofsrud of Ford Motor Norge AS.
By 2015, Norway Post aims to replace 1,300 fossil-fuel cars with electric cars and other alternative vehicles. Ford Transit Connect Electric has been developed in collaboration with Norway Post.
For further information, please contact:
Hilde Ebeltoft-Skaugrud, press spokesman Posten Norge AS, tel: +47 92 24 94 77
Norway Post’s press telephone: +47 95 14 80 00