2Sustain

Late last month, UPS released the latest annual update of its corporate sustainability report and announced an ambitious goal: The company wants to improve the miles per gallon (MPG) performance of its entire US package delivery fleet (some 60,000 vehicles) by 20 percent between 2000 and 2020.

UPS has already made progress in this area. Between 2000 and 2009, the company increased the MPG of its US ground fleet by 10 percent. That means that in 2009, UPS drivers logged 77.3 million more miles than in 2000, yet fuel consumption decreased by 3.2 million gallons.

The company uses a variety of approaches to improve fuel efficiency level, including: (more…)

Building on the success of the program it introduced in the US last fall, UPS has expanded carbon neutral shipping to 35 countries and territories across Europe, Asia and the Americas.

That means, starting this week, millions more UPS customers now have the option of paying a small fee to calculate and offset the carbon emissions associated with their shipments. (In the United States, the small fee ranges from $0.05 for a ground package and $0.20 for an air package to $0.75 for an international package. Outside the United States, UPS says the small flat fee will vary slightly by country depending on the type of service selected and the origin and destination of the shipment.) (more…)

Over the past month, UPS has deployed 245 new delivery trucks powered by Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) to cities in Colorado and California. They join more than 900 CNG vehicles already in use by UPS worldwide.

Specifically, the new trucks are now at work in Denver (140 trucks) and four cities in California: San Ramon (18), Fresno (16), West Los Angeles (59) and Ontario (12). They are expected to yield a 15 percent emissions reduction over the cleanest diesel engines available in the market today. (more…)

Recent research found that the vast majority of companies have, or are developing, some type of sustainable packaging policy.

But even though there’s a heightened awareness and lots of interest, green packaging remains poorly understood.

Fortunately, a new three-part online series by Nancy Parmer shines a spotlight on the issue, promising to address the fundamental concerns surrounding sustainable packaging and its role in the green supply chain.

Parmer, who is senior director of sustainability, customer solutions group, at UPS, says the series will dissect each of these three key green packaging strategies: (more…)

Earlier this week, UPS became the first small package carrier to offer its customers the ability to offset the carbon dioxide emissions generated by the transport of their packages within the United States.

Under this new program, UPS will offer U.S. shippers the option of paying a small fee — $0.05 for UPS Ground services and $0.20 for UPS Next Day Air, UPS 2nd Day Air and UPS 3 Day Select services –to calculate and offset the climate impact of the shipment of each of their packages.

(more…)