Deutsche Post DHL unveils €600m sustainability investments in Germany

Deutsche Post DHL has committed itself to investing €600 million this year towards decarbonising its operations in Germany, with e-mobility and green infrastructure top of the spending agenda.

The logistics group also announced that, as part of its Sustainability Roadmap, it will buy more than 400 (bio)gas-powered trucks between 2022 and 2023 to reduce emissions from linehaul trucking between operational facilities.

The news came at a press event in Berlin where DP DHL’s Post & Parcel Germany division unveiled its 20,000th electric delivery vehicle and presented a wide-ranging update on its sustainability activities, including new services for business and private customers.

Tobias Meyer, CEO Post & Parcel Germany, declared: “In the course of the last 12 months, we’ve become even more climate-friendly across all of our logistics services – from our product portfolio to shipping, from our buildings to last-mile delivery.

“We currently have the largest e-fleet in the logistics sector. Deliveries in over 50% of our delivery districts are now carbon-free, and our overall emissions are well below those of competitors. If conditions allow, sustainable, carbon-neutral post and parcel services can become a reality Germany-wide in the course of the next few years.” 

€300m for e-vehicles

To showcase that the yellow brand is becoming greener, Deutsche Post today added the 20,000th e-vehicle to its delivery fleet, which also includes some 12,600 e-trikes. The group has budgeted €300 million this year for more investments in electric vehicles.

“No other logistics provider is investing anywhere near as much in e-mobility as Deutsche Post and DHL Parcel Germany,” the group claimed.

By 2025, the commercial e-fleet is set to grow further to 38,000 vehicles. The range of vehicles in the fleet is also being expanded to cover additional areas of application.

In 2022 alone, 1,300 new StreetScooter Gigabox vehicles with a load capacity of 12 cubic meters will be deployed on Germany’s roads. Unlike the other models in the StreetScooter series, the Gigabox is a right-wheel drive, meaning that couriers enter and exit the vehicle curbside, improving both driver and road safety. The e-vehicle also has a walk-in storage space with shelving for around 160 parcels.

By the end of 2022, the charging infrastructure at the company’s operational sites will be expanded from the current 24,200 to 28,000 charging stations.

Climate-friendly trucking

Meanwhile, Post & Parcel Germany will be acquiring more than 400 (bio)gas-powered trucks over the next two years to make transporting shipments between mail and parcel centers greener. At Post & Parcel Germany, carbon emissions are greatest when transporting shipments between the large mail and parcel centers.

The new trucks generate far fewer emissions and are much quieter than trucks with diesel engines. Carbon emissions as well as nitrogen, particulate matter and particles are significantly reduced. 

Green buildings

Deutsche Post DHL is also investing a similarly large amount (c. €300m) in the construction and refurbishing of climate-friendly operating sites, including carbon-free delivery depots.

Last year Deutsche Post DHL announced its plan to build 280 carbon-neutral delivery depots across Germany by 2025. Of these, 36 went into operation in 2021. The aim is to have 100 sites up and running by the end of this year.

From these depots, the couriers distribute mail and parcels to homes in their delivery districts – mostly using e-vehicles, making deliveries carbon-neutral. These new company-built delivery bases will feature photovoltaic systems, heat pumps in conjunction with underfloor heating and building automation. At some sites, battery storage systems will supplement the energy efficiency model, while other sites have been retrofitting battery storage using the batteries of decommissioned StreetScooter e-vehicles.

In addition to these delivery depots, a series of construction projects took place in 2021. These involved existing Post & Parcel Germany buildings as well as new builds equipped with green solutions such as photovoltaics, green roofs and green facades.

GoGreen Plus portfolio

On the commercial front, Deutsche Post DHL is now offering a new portfolio of “GoGreen Plus” products for postal and parcel customers in Germany. This service is already offered by DHL Global Forwarding, which recently expanded the service to include air freight on all trade lanes and included emissions reductions through carbon insetting.

GoGreen Plus allows business customers to avoid the emissions generated through a process known as “insetting” – this time investing in additional reduction measures in the logistics network. This involves initiatives like purchasing sustainable fuels and buying and deploying e-vehicles. Shipments sent using “GoGreen Plus” are completely carbon-neutral.

A pilot with a small group of customers in the areas of national goods shipping as well as advertising and press services was launched in February this year, and a rollout to all customers is planned for 2023. A “GoGreen Plus” product for letter mail is expected to be announced in the second half of 2022.

In parallel, the existing GoGreen service, based on offsetting emissions, will be extended to include international shipping from this summer onwards.

Parcels by train

Shipping parcels by rail is another environmentally-friendly alternative for long-distance transportation. At present, about 6% of the division’s parcels – 120 million parcels a year – are transported this way.

To boost this activity, DHL’s new “GoGreen Plus” portfolio also offers private customers the option of using a free, optional freight train service to deliver their shipments by rail.

They can now register their parcels via the DHL Online Franking portal or the Post & DHL App and have the option to select part of the transport route using the conventional way by truck or the new way by climate-friendly rail. Where suitable rail connections are available between the places of origin and destination, the new service can be used for parcels and small packages (size M) within Germany without an additional surcharge and can also be combined with selected services, such as shipment insurance.

Rail freight is initially available on 144 of the longest railway lines between 37 DHL parcel centers in Germany. With additional connections planned for the future, the company aims to expand this climate-friendly parcel service to accommodate a greater number of shipments. Depending on the route, shipments sent via the new rail freight service can take up to a day longer than transports delivered by truck.

Packstations save emissions

DP DHL also highlighted the role of parcel lockers in reducing delivery emissions thanks to bulk deliveries to the customer collection terminal. Compared to doorstep delivery, shipping to a DHL Packstation reduces carbon emissions by an average of 30% over the last mile, according to the company. The Packstation network is due to be extended from the current 9,300 machines to 15,000 by the end of 2023.

Finally, the group stressed that alongside climate protection, its sustainability activities also include social elements, including “paying the highest wages in the logistics sector” and other staff benefits.

Sustainability in postal policy

Meyer, who takes over from Frank Appel as Group CEO next year, also used the event to demand a reform to the current Postal Act to support a move towards a sustainability-focused universal, carbon-neutral mail and parcel service.

“What we repeatedly find is that in practice, sustainability plays no role in public sector procurement,” he explained. “Contracts are awarded solely on grounds of price.

“We’d really like to see the German government make good on its announcement in the coalition agreement, that the Postal Act will be revised in line with criteria focusing on environmental and social components,” he urged.