NZ Post introduces carbon neutral sending

 Person to person letters and packages sent through NZ Post will be carbon neutral from now on.

It's all part of the company's goal of being a fully carbon neutral business from 2030, says chief executive David Walsh.

For the public it simply means NZ Post will calculate exactly how much carbon is emitted on the journey of all of its mail and parcels sent person to person, take actions to reduce emissions and offset the rest through the purchase of carbon credits.

Carbon neutral impact with all deliveries

The calculation includes carbon emitted from the entire lifecycle of the parcel, from processing in NZ Post depots, all transportation and delivery, to the parcels packaging from production to recycling or landfill.

"This means whether you are booking a courier to pick up a parcel, walking into a PostShop to send a present to your grandparents up north, or posting a letter to a friend down south, it will arrive at its destination with a carbon neutral impact," says Walsh.

All consumer products covered

Carbon neutral sending applies to all consumer products, including Postage Included and BYO packaged parcels, sent within New Zealand.

It also applies to all sending arranged online with the likes of Print Postage, Send It Now and TradeMe Book A Courier.

Within the first year of carbon neutral sending NZ Post expects to offset about 17,000 tonnes of carbon.

"This is equivalent to 22,800 car trips from Cape Reinga to Bluff and back, or taking 7800 cars off the road," Walsh says.

Everyone doing their part for the planet

NZ Post is committed to sustainable business practices

"As a business we are committed to delivering for New Zealand in the most sustainable way and being accountable for our impact on the environment," he says.

Walsh encourages others to do the same, by way of supporting brands that are committed to reducing their carbon footprint, and also adopting easy, low-cost schemes themselves.

"Things like eating locally grown food reducing meat consumption, recycling and composting, buying local and second-hand, or even flying or driving less," are known ways to help, he says.

Sustainable leadership into the future

NZ Post's new carbon neutral sending move is part of its own wider campaign to become fully carbon neutral from 2030.

Other ways of reducing its emissions are already in place.

"We're one of the largest electric fleets in the country with more than 50 per cent of our own fleet electrified," Walsh says.

With the aim of having 25 per cent of delivery partners' vans electrified by 2025, NZ Post is supporting its contractors to get into electric vehicles too.

"We are also making our sorting depots more energy efficient and we've recently changed our packaging to a lower emissions material," Walsh explains.

Only "unavoidable" emissions are being offset by carbon credits with person to person sending.

"We are offsetting those unavoidable carbon emissions, such as those emitted by planes, through buying carbon credits generated by association with environmental projects, such as local native forestry projects and international gold standard projects."

The calculations for emissions are verified by an independent third party partner Toitū Environcare

For more details on NZ Post's carbon neutral person to person sending visit www.nzpost.co.nz/about-us/sustainability/carbon-neutral. For more details on NZ Post's sustainability journey visit www.nzpost.co.nz/about-us/sustainability.