2Sustain

Earlier this week, UPS released its 2008 sustainability report and announced an aggressive CO2 reduction plan that will cut the carbon emissions of its airlines by an additional 20% by 2020, resulting in a cumulative reduction of 42% since 1990. This new carbon emission reduction target is particularly significant to UPS because jet planes are responsible for 53% of the company’s carbon output.

According to the new report, UPS plans to achieve its 2020 airlines goal through

• more fuel efficient aircraft types and engines,

• fuel saving operational initiatives, such as lower flight speeds, reduced flight segments, computer-optimized flight plans, computer-managed aircraft taxi times, and jet engine washing, and

• introduction of biofuels.

The section of UPS’s sustainability report devoted to environmental stewardship fills 30 pages and includes key performance indicators associated with fuel use, emissions, and the company’s environmental management system. There is a lengthy discussion of how UPS reduces emissions through network efficiency, employee education, and various green customer services (paperless invoices, more sustainable packaging options, reusable envelopes, etc.), as well as details about the company’s conservation and recycling initiatives.

It’s interesting to note that I’m seeing more and more attention being paid to water conservation in corporate sustainability reports these days. UPS is no exception. The company reports that its U.S. Package Operations reduced water consumption from 1.42 billion gallons to 1.15 billion gallons last year. In the corporate offices alone, water consumption was reduced by 4.8 million gallons compared to 2007. This reduction was achieved through landscape irrigation changes, installation of waterless urinals, and HVAC system upgrades.

For more details, see the full report at http://www.responsibility.ups.com/sustainability/ and an earlier post about how UPS improved efficiencies and lowered emissions at one of its largest data centers.