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An Post zero emissions vehicle driving through urban street at sunrise.

The journey so far

Responsible consumption & production

Overview

We continue to remain focused on delivering climate actions and remain on track to reduce our carbon emissions by 50% by 2025 and to achieve net zero carbon emissions from our own operations by 2030.

Championing climate literacy and the UN SDGs

Championing climate literacy and the UN SDGs

An Post is proud to continue our commitment to sustainability through the use of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In 2024, we advanced from being an SDG Champion to become an SDG Ambassador. An initiative of the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications to raise public awareness, our role is to inspire and guide others in climate action and social justice, as well as leading by example to create a more sustainable future for all. We ran several campaigns throughout 2024 to inspire sustainable living. We launched our Keeping it Circular campaign, followed by our SDG Week campaign, which focused on raising awareness of the Circular Economy. Through these initiatives, we highlighted the importance of sustainability and showed how simple actions can contribute to a more circular and sustainable Ireland.

We also hosted the launch of the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) Ireland Network in the EXO building in 2024. Over 150 senior leaders from businesses and organisations across Ireland attended this milestone event, reinforcing Ireland’s commitment to the SDGs.


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Reducing our emissions

In 2024, we expanded the size of our electric vehicle (EV) fleet by 31.5%, as part of our fleet replacement programme. Additionally, we made significant strides in adopting hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) as a diesel alternative, boosting its use by 43% year-on-year. Despite these advancements, we experienced another record-breaking year in the volume of packets and parcels delivered across Ireland, and we also delivered over 50 million items on behalf of the State as part of the European, Local and General Elections, which led to a 6.2% rise in our emissions. Emission reduction doesn’t always follow a linear path, especially in a growing and successful business. However, we are confident that the ongoing rollout of EVs and the greater adoption of HVO will ensure that we meet our ambitious 2025 targets. By the end of 2025, 50% of our fleet will be powered by alternative fuels and we will have reduced emissions from our own operations by 50%.

Furthermore, although there was a slight increase in our electricity consumption in 2024, our total usage remains 37% below our 2009 baseline. With additional energy efficiency measures and expanded use of solar energy planned in 2025, we remain on track to achieve a 40% reduction in electricity consumption across our buildings by the end of 2025.



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Carbon emissions of postal items

We continue to track emission factors for our letters, packets and parcels to provide our customers with information on the average emissions emitted as well as track whether we are becoming more efficient at reducing emissions as our e-commerce business grows. We will continue to improve our methodology, with calculations determined from the average weight of letters and parcels, and relating this to the emissions generated. In 2024, we continued to reduce our emissions per item, achieving a 9% reduction in emissions per letter and a 3.3% reduction per packet / parcel.


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Enhancing energy efficiency of our buildings

In 2024, we faced several challenges that impacted our energy consumption. 2024 was colder, with a 4.7% increase in Heating Degree Days compared to 2023, resulting in greater heating and electricity usage to maintain comfortable indoor temperatures for our employees. Additionally, expanding office hours to six days per week at certain sites, to support business needs, further increased energy demand. The continued retention of the General Post Office (GPO) in our property portfolio also affected our energy savings. Until the GPO is officially transferred to the Office of Public Works (OPW), we are unable to realise the anticipated energy efficiencies associated with relocating to our new headquarters in the EXO building. Consequently, our heating-related CO2e emissions rose by 16% in 2024, and electricity consumption (kWh) increased by 2%. Despite these challenges, we are 3% away from our 2025 target of achieving a 40% reduction in electricity usage compared to our 2009 baseline and we remain committed to improving energy performance and reducing emissions to meet our target next year.



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Energy Efficient Lighting

Following on from our successful replacement of all external lighting in our offices with energy efficient lighting in 2021 we completed the installation of internal energy efficient lighting throughout our property portfolio, meeting our ambition of replacing all lighting with energy efficient lighting in 2022. Our upgrade to energy efficient lighting has contributed to a reduction in our electricity usage by over 1 million kWh since 2019.

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Heating

We continued our heating controls installation programme in 2022, with the development of a new energy monitoring data base. We also converted the bulk supply of our Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) to Bio LPG in 25 properties, saving approximately 140 tonnes of carbon emissions in 2022, and with an expectant saving in excess of 200 tonnes of carbon annually. Together these initiatives have improved efficiencies in our offices and resulted in a reduction of 660 tonnes of carbon emissions.

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Concept properties

One of our key achievements in 2022 was the launch of our “Concept Properties” programme, which aims to test innovative technologies and sustainable living across selected An Post sites. This programme focussed on two properties in Wexford and Carlow which acted as templates
to explore the optimum use of different energy systems, alternative energy sources and public access to fast EV charging points, as we move towards retrofitting our property portfolio. We are aiming to retrofit our property portfolio to a minimum of BER (Building Energy Rating) “B3” standard, which will involve several strategies that balance energy demand across our premises such as:

  • Improving insulation
  • Installing heat pump systems
  • Installing solar PV cells and battery electric storage systems
  • Implementing smart energy management systems
  • Upgrading of lighting systems to the highest energy
  • standards.

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Green Electricity

We renewed our electricity contract in 2022 and continue to purchase 100% green electricity from our electricity supplier, which is certified as being from renewable sources. We are also producing our own green electricity and in September 2022, we installed 219 solar photovoltaic (PV) panels in our Carlow and Wexford Delivery Service Units which, along with our PV panels in Monaghan DSU, have generated 17.69 MWh of renewable electricity on our sites, over 800 kWh of which was given back to Ireland’s electricity grid to be used by the public and other companies.

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