Background
The green transition is a process of change in production, consumption and personal habits that the world has now undertaken. The aim of this transformation is to avert the worst effects on climate and the environment of global warming caused by the increase in greenhouse gas emissions dating back to the industrial revolution.The North Star to getting there is the number 1.5 – which is the limit within which the planet's heating needs to be contained in terms of the average rise in degrees Celsius.
The way to go about our goal is twofold: increasing the energy efficiency of consumption and economic production on the one hand and replacing fossil fuels with renewable alternatives on the other.
The goal is to reduce net CO2 emissions to zero by 2050. As an intermediate step, the European Union aims to cut emissions by 55% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels, according to its Fit for 55 plan.
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Poste Italiane's commitment
The European plan to limit warming to 1.5° C above the pre-industrial era is ambitious, but Poste Italiane's aim goes even further.
Poste Italiane seeks to reduce its net greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2030 – 20 years ahead of European and global programmes.
Poste Italiane's intermediate milestone is to reduce its overall emissions by 30% by 2025 from 2020 levels.
Areas of impact
Poste Italiane's energy efficiency actions focus on mail delivery vehicles and post offices, or as we say "logistics" and "facilities”.
Logistics
In logistics, which consists mainly of our fleet of vehicles, the first goal is to reduce emissions by 40% by 2022 compared to 2019 – with more than 43,000 tons of CO2 saved by our road fleet.
In practice, this means increasing the share of electric, hybrid and low-emission vehicles, which are expected to reach 27,800 units by the end of 2022.
The new green fleet will generate a real value of €25 million for the community by replacing the traditional fleet. A full 80% of this benefit relates to decreased health and environmental damages brought about by the 40% reduction in emissions. The remaining 20% are the socio-economic and health costs avoided thanks to reduced road congestion and increased safety of the new vehicles.
Facilities
For real estate, the goal is to reduce our total direct and indirect emissions (Scope 1 and 2) by 13,000 tons of CO2 equivalent by 2024 compared to 2020.
Energy sustainability in this area means that by 2024 more than 98% of electricity consumption in our offices will be met by renewable energy, either self-generated on-site or purchased with certificates guaranteeing its green origin.
Smart building solutions will also contribute to making the activities of our offices increasingly energy efficient, with 90 energy efficiency projects coordinated overall by Poste Italiane, aimed not only at optimizing electricity consumption, but also gas use for heating.
"Full Green" delivery in Viareggio
We have chosen our Viareggio hub to be one of the first models for the full sustainability of our fleet of mail and parcel delivery vehicles.
In this well-known seaside resort in Tuscany, we have replaced all combustion engine vehicles with the latest generation of electric vehicles. Our Viareggio Delivery Center is equipped with 21 electric tricycles and 7 electric motor vehicles that travel about 660 km in the province of Lucca every day.
The new electric tricycles have a load compartment of about 270 liters and a range of about 60 km, which allows letter carriers to make all their daily deliveries on a single charge.
For each electric vehicle, Poste Italiane has installed a charging station, thus addressing one of the main challenges for the electrification of transport – the need for a widespread deployment of infrastructure for charging electric vehicles.
For each electric vehicle, Poste Italiane has installed a charging station, thus addressing one of the main challenges for the electrification of transport – the need for a widespread deployment of infrastructure for charging electric vehicles.
