2Sustain

For the third year in a row, UPS has earned the top score in the consumer shipping sector on the annual Climate Counts scorecard.

UPS earned its No. 1 spot with a score of 80, edging out competitors Deutsche Post World Net/DHL, the US Postal Service and FedEx, which ranked second, third and fourth, respectively.

Among the 136 companies ranked by Climate Counts, UPS also shared the 11th highest score across all industries alongside Sony, Nokia and AB Electrolux.

“This recognition is significant because Climate Counts rigorously evaluates performance rather than corporate marketing claims,” said Scott Wicker, UPS’s chief sustainability officer. “UPS’s repeated and consistent top ranking in the shipping segment highlights our efforts to measure, manage and reduce our carbon footprint while offering consumers more choices that support their commitment to the environment.”

As part of their corporate decarbonization strategy, UPS implemented proprietary routing technology to assist drivers in maximizing the efficiency of their delivery route. (more…)

The UPS Foundation has pledged nearly $2 million in grants to help plant, protect and preserve trees in urban and rural areas in the US and around the world.

The company says this reforestation program is grounded in collaboration with several of the world’s leading environmental organizations and will help manage and preserve forests in the US, Belgium, Canada, Brazil and China.

Environmental sustainability is one of The UPS Foundation’s official philanthropic focus areas, and reforestation programs like this one re-plant and protect tree species that can store carbon, mitigating climate change. As the company points out, a recent study published in the journal Science found that in total, established forests and young re-growth forests in the Tropics soaked up nearly 15 billion tonnes of CO2, or roughly half the emissions from industry, transport and other sources. Trees also produce fossil fuel substitutes, such as biomass, and they provide flood control and water regulation benefits.

Here are a few highlights from the list of The UPS Foundation’s new forestry-focused grants: (more…)

Late last month, UPS released the latest edition of its annual sustainability report, and once again, the company has managed to reduce the amount of fuel it’s using to deliver each package in the United States.

Interestingly, the company’s US package volume rose 1.8 percent in 2010 compared to 2009, and yet UPS reduced the amount of fuel consumed per package by 3.3 percent. The company attributed the improvement to:

• deploying the right vehicle on the right routes,
• using technology to minimize the miles driven and
• focusing on how behavior can affect fuel use.

All told, technology has enabled UPS to avoid driving more than 63.5 million miles in 2010 with an associated emissions avoidance of 68,000 metric tonnes. As remarkable as it sounds, UPS estimates that distance is the equivalent of 251,987 trips to the International Space Station.

How, exactly, has the company used technology to reduce fuel consumption? According to a press release, UPS has specifically improved: (more…)

I first wrote about UPS’s carbon neutral shipping option when it was first launched in the US back in 2009. Last week, the company announced that it is expanding the availability of this popular program.

Now, customers in many countries in Europe, Asia and the Americas can select carbon neutral as an option within the UPS WorldShip shipping system.

For those who aren’t familiar with it, WorldShip is UPS’s full-featured, Windows-based shipping software designed for customers who ship five or more packages per day. With more than 550,000 installations worldwide, WorldShip is one of the most widely deployed transportation software applications in the world.

UPS’s recent announcement means that the majority of the company’s WorldShip customer base now have the option of paying a small fee to calculate and offset the carbon emissions associated with their shipments. (more…)

Last week, UPS –a company that has already proven itself a leader in alternative-powered vehicles –announced that it has launched yet another project, this time in partnership with Electric Vehicles International (EVI).

The 90-day trial will allow UPS to test EVI’s walk-in electric vans (WI) in three separate locations: Sacramento, San Francisco and Reno.

EVI has fitted the vans with Lithium-Ion batteries. These batteries provide an operating range of 90 miles (144 km) and a top speed of 60 mph (96 km/h). They typically take three to ten hours to recharge. (more…)