Nearly Tripled Number of Miles Driven by
Alternative Fuels and Advanced Technology Fleet in 2014
MISSISSAUGA, ON, July 30, 2015 /CNW/ - UPS (NYSE: UPS) today
released its 13th annual Sustainability Report, highlighting its
growing investment in alternative fuel and advanced technology
vehicles and commitment to log 20 million hours of volunteer time
by the end of 2020.
With its "Rolling Laboratory" approach, UPS accelerated its
investment in an alternative fuel and advanced technology fleet of
more than 5,000 vehicles last year, increasing the number of
vehicles by 61 per cent over 2013 and adding 1,100 natural gas
vehicles. According to the report, UPS logged 154 million miles in
2014 toward its goal of driving 1 billion miles with the fleet by
the end of 2017 – an almost threefold increase from 2013.
"It took 13 years to drive the first 350 million miles with our
alternative fuel and advanced technology fleet," said Rhonda Clark, UPS chief sustainability officer
and vice president of environmental affairs. "In just one year we
were able to build dramatically on that number and we are now more
than halfway to our 2017 goal. With continued investments in this
fleet, we are doing our part to help transform the transportation
industry."
UPS reported that 5.4 per cent – or 25 million gallons – of its
total gas and diesel purchased in 2014 was displaced with
alternative fuels including natural gas, propane, ethanol,
biomethane, renewable diesel, and electricity. The commitment to
alternative fuel and advanced technologies will allow UPS to reduce
its annual use of gasoline and diesel 12 per cent by the end of
2017.
The report also highlights two global trends facing the
transportation and logistics industry: an increase in consumer
e-commerce and growth in urbanization. E-commerce shipments are
typically business-to-consumer (B2C) and fewer packages per stop
compared to business-to-business (B2B) deliveries. This means
carriers may be driving more miles and using more fuel to deliver
fewer goods.
UPS Canada was recently named
to Maclean's/L'Actualité's annual list of "50 Most Socially
Responsible Corporations in Canada." The program audits and ranks
companies in Canada on the basis
of their performance across 75 different indicators including a
broad range of environmental, social and governance (ESG) aspects
tracked by Sustainalytics, a global responsible investment research
firm specialized in ESG research and analysis. UPS's inclusion
marked the fourth straight year that the company has appeared on
the prestigious list.
While e-commerce drove a 6.8 per cent increase in package volume
globally in 2014, UPS emitted fewer greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
per package, with total carbon emissions growing just 3.3 per cent.
The 14.1 per cent reduction in carbon intensity achieved since 2007
is equal to removing more than 380,000 passenger vehicles from the
road for one year.
With consumer deliveries expected to grow to half of UPS's U.S.
business volume by 2019, the company deploys innovative strategies
and technologies to address this challenge, including UPS My
Choice™ service and UPS Access Point™ locations. These services
give consumers control over when and where they receive deliveries,
which helps UPS avoid unnecessary kilometers.
Global population shifts from rural to urban areas translates
into more congestion, noise, and pollution in cities. UPS works
closely with its customers, government leaders and other
stakeholders to develop new delivery methods to reach dense urban
areas. For example, UPS has 28 electric trucks operating in
London and expects to add another
40 within the next few years to reach its goal of having an
all-electric fleet in London's
city center. UPS also operates 80 electric vehicles in cities
across Europe including
Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Hamburg and in some urban centres the company
is using bikes for deliveries.
"Urbanization and e-commerce growth create unique challenges for
us, our customers and the communities we serve," continued Clark.
"UPS is committed to meeting those challenges, minimizing our
impact on the environment and paving the way for a more sustainable
future."
UPS also continued its long history of giving back to the
community with a 2014 pledge to commit 20 million volunteer hours
by the end of 2020. UPS employees and retirees, friends and
families logged 7.2 million volunteer hours since 2011. In
Canada, UPS employees dedicated
over 70,000 hours in 2014 to hundreds of charitable organizations
across the country. This was in addition to more than C$460,000 given through The UPS Foundation
Community Grant Program. The company expects the 20 million hours
of volunteer work to translate into almost $500 million in economic impact to nonprofit
organizations around the world.
Assuring humanitarian relief reaches those in need around the
world as quickly as possible continues to be a UPS priority. UPS
employees and the global logistics network coordinated more than
263 humanitarian relief shipments of food, health and emergency
goods in 43 countries. The effort provided funding and logistics
support to areas affected by the Ebola epidemic, the Syrian refugee
crisis and severe weather in the
Philippines and the U.S.
For more information on UPS's sustainability
initiatives, please visit www.ups.com/sustainability.
About UPS
UPS (NYSE: UPS) is a global leader in
logistics, offering a broad range of solutions including the
transportation of packages and freight, the facilitation of
international trade and the deployment of advanced technology to
more efficiently manage the world of business. UPS is committed to
operating more sustainably – for customers, the environment and the
communities we serve around the world. Learn more about our
efforts at ups.com/sustainability. Headquartered in Atlanta, UPS serves more than 220 countries
and territories worldwide. The company can be found on the Web at
ups.com® and its corporate blog can be found at
blog.ups.com. To get UPS news direct, visit
pressroom.ups.com/RSS.
SOURCE UPS Canada Ltd.