DPDgroup has launched a new CSR strategy called “DrivingChange” as part of which it aims to reduce its carbon footprint by 10% per parcel by 2020, compared to 2013, improve deliveries in urban areas, boost innovative projects and support local communities.
The La Poste subsidiary said: “We aim to be a responsible partner for our B2B and B2C customers. With this in mind, we have implemented a new strategy that is both simple and pragmatic. Built around four key priorities, the strategy is adapted to the new objectives of the DPDgroup and perfectly consistent with our core business of parcel delivery.” The four priorities relate to carbon- neutral commitment, smart urban delivery, innovative entrepreneurship and “closer communities”.
Carbon-neutral commitment means that DPDgroup delivers every parcel in a CO2-neutral way at no extra cost for its customers. In 2014, the company compensated the equivalent of 700,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions, thanks to its carbon-neutral shipping programme Total Zero implemented across Europe. “As such, we are the only parcel delivery company that offers customers carbon-neutral deliveries at no additional cost. This is a clear asset for our customers, who are increasingly concerned by their environmental impact,” the group said.
To achieve carbon-neutral delivery, DPDgroup measures its CO2 emissions, then reduces them and offsets the remaining emissions. To reduce the emissions, it has been constantly improving the efficiency of its transport network, e.g. through tour optimisation, deploying innovative solutions like Predict or Pickup and increasingly using alternative fuel vehicles. To offset the remaining transport emissions, the company finances renewable and cleaner energy production projects by purchasing carbon credits. “Together with EcoAct, the European leader on the carbon market, we have put in place an offsetting programme respecting the most rigorous international standards,” DPDgroup said.
With smart urban delivery, the second pillar of the CSR strategy, DPDgroup aims to improve the quality of life and health for people living in urban areas. This can be achieved by providing an increasingly wide choice of delivery options while reducing the company’s environmental impact through measuring the emissions generated from its logistic platforms and vehicles in city centres.
The group stressed that it is constantly looking for new, more practical and personalised delivery methods adapting not only to the urban infrastructures in the cities it operates in but also to its customers’ life styles. “For example, Predict enables our customers to manage their deliveries themselves, by choosing the delivery time-slot that best suits them. This system improves delivery-management efficiency and simplifies our customers’ lives. Pickup, our network of alternative delivery locations, now boats 22,000 pick-up points in 14 European countries and is currently testing new services such as Pickup Stores and Pickup Stations in France.”
“Our actions in this field also result in significant benefits: less particulate matter emissions in our cities, less traffic on our roads and less time wasted by customers waiting for their parcels. Over 74% of the European population lives in a city. As we deliver to more and more people every day, we need to be aware of our impact on urban populations and communities and offer solutions that improve people’s way of life. ”
As part of innovative entrepreneurship, the third pillar of the company’s strategy, DPDgroup supports local companies to create innovative services. “We aim to share our expertise and entrepreneurial spirit with the companies we work with in order to contribute to their development. DPDgroup works actively with these companies in order to find new innovations together. This is the case of Stuart, a start-up specialised in urgent urban delivery, in which we invested in 2015.”
Via its partnership with Ashoka, the leading worldwide network of social entrepreneurs, DPDgroup has been supporting since 2010 ‘pragmatic entrepreneurs thinking out of the box for solving social challenges’. It also supports Beeleev, a selective global community of business owners and entrepreneurs worldwide.
As its fourth priority, DPDgroup supports local communities and encourages its employees to join solidarity initiatives. These include a wide range of different topics and areas such as solidarity transport (free deliveries), disadvantaged children and youth, the elderly, health, education, poverty, and environment.
“In 2014, we supported over 300 associations in Europe, involving over 5,000 employees. The actions were diverse: transportation of charity food, kindergarten renovation, animal shelter cleaning-up, coaching of 130 business school students, Christmas gifts packaging, etc.,” the group explained.
Paul-Marie Chavanne, Executive VP of La Poste and CEO of GeoPost, La Poste's express parcels division, commented on the new CSR strategy: “We believe we can make a positive impact by focusing our effort on areas closely related to our core business. It is our commitment to both reduce our environmental footprint, and drive social and economic improvements in the communities that we serve. We believe we can achieve this through our CSR programme that we call DrivingChange.”
“With DrivingChange, we focus on the areas where we can make direct, positive impact – neutralising our carbon footprint; providing smarter and more efficient urban delivery solutions; driving innovation, inside and out; and building meaningful connections in communities we work with. This approach brings us closer to our customers and allows us to affect positive change in how we do business, and evolve our business,” he concluded.
