As Earth Day approaches, we reflect on our journey towards environmental responsibility and the path ahead to create a more sustainable future for the logistics industry and supply chain management as a whole.
At ePost Global, we recognize that our activity as one of America’s largest private logistics companies has a profound responsibility to the world we all inhabit. This Earth Day, we’re not only honoring our world—we’re reaffirming our commitment to defending it through quantifiable, impactful change in how business is done.
Understanding Our Environmental Impact
The first step on any road to sustainability is honest self-reflection. Our 2024 Climate Disclosure Report is our promise of transparency and accountability in measuring our carbon emissions and environmental footprint through our operations.
Our integrated analysis indicated our overall greenhouse gas emissions equal 32,493.47 metric tonnes of CO₂e and that most of them (31,562.36 metric tonnes) are within Scope 3 emissions—majorly from transport routes and third-party carriers. The direct emissions from company-owned automobiles and buildings in our company operations (Scope 1) reach 705.67 metric tonnes, and purchased electricity indirect emissions (Scope 2) cover 225.43 metric tonnes.
This level of specificity in our understanding of our sources of emissions has enabled us to create focused reduction strategies, concentrating our efforts where they can be most effective.
Our Sustainability Roadmap
Electrification of Our Fleet
It’s similar to the quiet, persistent development of a forest. We’re doing it incrementally and deliberately moving toward sustainable transportation. By electrifying our fleet, we’re adding electric vehicles to our first-mile delivery routes gradually, beginning with our most active urban routes where air quality is most critical.
For every electric vehicle that goes into operation, we’re preventing around 4.6 metric tonnes of carbon emissions annually versus conventional vehicles, helping us meet our broader carbon neutral objectives.
Optimizing Routes, Minimizing Impact
Nature also instructs us that the shortest distance is often the most sustainable way. Our cutting-edge route optimization technology analyzes millions of potential delivery combinations to determine our most fuel-efficient transportation routes for our shipments.
This efficiency eliminates unnecessary miles traveled, conserves fuel, and thereby decreases our carbon footprint. By doing so, we’ve been able to lower our emission intensity to 0.2869 kg CO₂e per tonne-kilometer of product transported—a goal we’re continuing to decrease each year through better fuel efficiency.
Modal Shifts to Lower-Carbon Transport
Just as a diversity of species makes ecosystems stronger, a diversity of transportation options makes our green initiatives stronger. We’re intentionally rerouting suitable shipments from high-polluting air freight to lower-polluting ground and ocean shipping modes where delivery windows permit.
This modal shift is one of the greatest opportunities for reducing our Scope 3 carbon emissions, which constitute more than 97% of our total carbon footprint. It gives us an opportunity to reduce emissions by as much as 85% for every tonne of freight shifted from air to ground transport.
Sustainable Packaging Solutions
In the natural world, nothing goes to waste. We’re applying this principle to our packaging strategy by implementing innovative eco-friendly packaging solutions throughout our logistics operations.
We’ve introduced HexcelWrap™ and similar paper-based protective packaging materials to replace traditional bubble wrap and plastic fillers. These alternatives offer comparable protection while being fully recyclable and biodegradable, significantly reducing the plastic waste associated with shipping.
Our packaging strategy now includes biodegradable items that naturally decompose without having harmful impacts on the environment. The items return to the earth with no remnants of microplastics or chemical byproducts, putting an end to a cycle that replicates nature.
For shipments that require plastic packaging, we prefer recycled PET (rPET) packaging materials that can be recycled infinitely, creating a loop system. This process allows us to tap into the already existing recycling infrastructure while reducing virgin plastic production requirements.
We have also implemented reusable plastic container (RPC) systems for appropriate shipments, which are reusable over 100 times prior to recycling. Such robust containers reduce waste not only but also guard products more effectively, reducing levels of damage and the environmental impact of replacements.
These sustainable solutions not only reduce waste sent to landfills but also reduce the weight of shipments, further minimizing fuel consumption and carbon emissions during transport.
Renewable Energy Integration
We’re turning increasingly to renewable energy sources to power our operations. We’re adding solar panels to some of our distribution facilities, beginning with our California facility, where there’s plenty of sunlight to make solar particularly efficient.
This move to renewable energy further reduces our Scope 2 emissions, lessens our dependence on fossil fuels, and supports our broader sustainability goals.
Reforestation: Nature’s Carbon Capture Technology
One of the strongest of our sustainability initiatives is our reforestation program. Taking a cue from industry leaders, we’ve committed to tree planting as an organic means of carbon sequestration.
Through our partnership with credible reforestation organizations, with each shipment we haul, we plant trees. These trees will absorb carbon dioxide when they photosynthesize, offsetting our emissions outright while they’re also aiding in habitats and wildlife. The forests that we help plant increase the health of watersheds and preserve the integrity of soil, which ensures overall resilience in the natural environment. Our reforestation activities also create job opportunities in communities where they are planted, ensuring environmental responsibility along with social returns.
This initiative is a demonstration of our commitment to not only decreasing our adverse environmental footprints but actively working towards carbon neutral logistics.
Enlisting Our Partners in Sustainability
Symbiotic associations create resiliency within the natural environment. Similarly, we recognize our most impactful footprint environmentally falls under our Scope 3 emissions—those emissions created by our suppliers and partners. We are actively engaging with our carrier community in order to scale our green logistics initiatives throughout our supply chain management.
We have applied carrier sustainability scorecards to measure and rank the environmental record of our shipping partners. Those reports provide key indicators on our extended network’s environmental profile as well as promote beneficial competitive pressure to seek on-going improvements.
We currently make our purchase arrangements involving favoritism regarding transportation services, choosing the carriers showing a record commitment to reductions in emissions. Doing this makes a rewarding precedent in taking environmentally good roles, but makes the other people join better on green thinking for market competitions.
We’re encouraging collective innovation by way of partnership with our stakeholders to identify and infuse new sustainability best practices right down the supply chain. Such joint initiatives leverage our collective expertise to address shared environmental challenges.
Knowledge-sharing forums held regularly facilitate sharing of best practice and learning experience in sustainable logistics. By bringing together stakeholders across our entire network, we generate momentum for rolling out best-practice solutions in sustainability right across the sector.
By affecting our entire value chain, we amplify the impact of our sustainability efforts and contribute to building a more sustainable supply chain than we could achieve alone.
Measuring Progress: Our Climate-Related Targets
The saying goes, “What gets measured gets managed.” We’re developing open, science-based targets for lowering our emissions, with an emphasis on substance-led metrics that drive real change.
Our carbon intensity reduction goal is to lower our emissions per tonne-kilometre carried by 15% by 2026 and by 40% by 2030. This efficiency-focused target ensures that we enhance our environmental performance as our business continues to grow.
In absolute terms, we’re also pledged to reduce our overall emissions by 25% by 2030, even as our business is likely to expand. This ambitious target acknowledges that mastering climate change is not just about being more efficient but actually reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Our renewable energy transition plan will see us producing 50% of our energy from renewable sources by 2027. This decarbonization of our operations is a paradigm shift in how we power our business.
We’re also headed towards a zero-emission fleet, with plans to shift 30% of our first-mile delivery fleet to zero-emission vehicles by 2028. This transition to electric and other cleaner trucks will dramatically reduce our direct emissions and air quality footprint.
These targets provide clear direction for our sustainability efforts while allowing us to measure and disclose our progress in an open and transparent manner.
The Business Case for Sustainability
Our commitment to environmental stewardship is not simply a matter of doing the right thing for the environment—it also makes good business sense. Our sustainability initiatives offer tangible benefits that support our competitive position in the market.
Initiatives focused on energy efficiency and route optimization have yielded substantial cost savings with a positive return on our bottom line. Such operational efficiencies lower fuel and electrical consumption while normally increasing productivity and service quality.
Our proactive sustainability strategy minimizes the risk of environmental regulation and carbon prices. By driving regulatory requirements, we eliminate costs of compliance and disruption and become leaders in our industry.
We’re experiencing brand expansion as we meet the growing consumer need for sustainable shipping options. More and more customers are making purchasing decisions based on the environment, and our efforts toward sustainability allow us to attract and retain these environmentally aware customers.
Our commitment to the environment has also become a compelling motivator for employee engagement. Today’s workers, particularly young employees, crave more meaningful work. Our sustainability efforts allow us to recruit and retain top performers who want their work to make a difference in society.
Most importantly, perhaps, our focus on sustainability is an innovation driver, stimulating creative solutions to increase efficiency in all of our operations. The constraints imposed by the environment often lead to breakthrough thinking that can be applied to many areas of our business.
By integrating sustainability into our core business strategy, we’re getting ePost Global ready for long-term success in a low-carbon economy.
Looking Forward: The Road Ahead
As we mark Earth Day, we renew that our path to sustainability is endless. The climate crisis calls for us to innovate increasingly and act increasingly courageously. In the coming years, we will be exploring several promising sustainable logistics frontiers.
We’re pilot-testing future-generation biofuels, like sustainable aviation fuels, blends of biodiesel, and other alternative fuels to reduce emissions from non-electrified gas-powered vehicles that aren’t yet ready to be fully electrified. These transition strategies help us reduce our carbon footprint while technology for full electrification continues to develop.
The potential of hydrogen fuel cells for long-distance transportation is another place to look for excitement. With cleaner production and increasing infrastructure, this technology could offer a zero-emission alternative to our most difficult transportation needs.
We’re also investing in technologies like direct air capture and other emerging approaches to address challenging-to-abate emissions. These technologies could one day allow us to achieve negative emissions, removing more carbon from the air than we emit.
Developing closed-loop systems for materials throughout our supply chain is another key focus area. These circular economy models aim to eliminate waste by keeping materials in continuous use forever, either through reuse, refurbishment, or recycling.
As the quiet, relentless force of nature itself, our commitment to sustainability will only grow and evolve more, guided by science and driven by purpose.
Join Us in This Mission
We invite our customers, partners, employees, and communities to join us in this important work. With each package shipped through ePost Global, we’re growing more trees and moving toward cleaner logistics.
By shipping with ePost Global, you’re not just selecting a shipping carrier—you’re part of a movement towards a cleaner future for international trade. Let’s transform an industry and save the planet we all share together.
This Earth Day, we’re reaffirming our eco-conscious commitment to be kind to the planet while reliably getting to customers. Because when it comes to sustainability, every package, every mile, and every decision matters.
ePost Global is a leading international mail and parcel shipping provider, offering cross-border logistics and reverse logistics solutions for U.S. based businesses through partnerships with foreign postal operators, commercial carriers, and regional logistics providers.
For more information about our sustainability initiatives or to learn how we can help your business reduce its environmental impact through optimized shipping, contact us today.
