Overview
In 2022, we increased our investment in Sustainability, rolling out a number of new key initiatives under Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure SDG.
The journey so far
Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
Capital expenditure
Realising that our sustainability ambitions require significant investment is why we plan to spend €100m on sustainability capital expenditure by 2025. In all of our capital programmes, we take a very keen interest in ensuring our capital assets are critically assessed from a sustainability perspective. An Post’s ongoing capital requirements and expenditure runs from €25m to €40m per year. Our strategic plan envisages a capital programme of up to €250m by 2030. Our capital programmes include property, vehicles, IT and other assets. Since 2018, we have spent €25m on sustainability capital expenditure. This has included investment in electric vehicles to decarbonise our fleet, technology and a number of other sustainability initiatives within our property portfolio, including installation of solar panels and insulation.
Innovations
Fuel innovation
Although we have been a pioneer in the roll out of electric vehicles in our light commercial fleet, we still produce over 10,000 tonnes of carbon through our Heavy Goods Vehicles(HGVs) and one of our biggest challenges within our decarbonisation strategy is to transform this fleet. As an interim solution, and following the success of our hydro-treated vegetable oil (HVO) trial as a fuel for 5 HGVs in Galway in 2021, we expanded the initiative in 2022 to 12 HGVs in Cork. HVO is a renewable fuel made from certified waste oils and fats and has showed excellent results with no performance difficulties. Since the HVO trials in Galway and Cork we have found:
• HVO uses 0.5 litres of fuel less per 100 km on average than its diesel equivalent.
• There has been a 91.8% reduction in carbon emissions in the trial fleet, compared to diesel fuel.
Digital Stamp
In 2022 we launched a digital stamp, which is a world first and marked a major advancement in digital postal services. This “stamp” can be purchased via the An Post app and a unique code is provided to the customer which is then hand written on the envelope. This digital innovation has helped to meet the changing demands of our customers who want convenient products that work for everyone. Since October 2022, the digital stamp has been used more than 59,000 times highlighting the importance of An Post providing an easy to use, paperless product.
Delivery Manager
An Post now offers customers a logged in delivery manager, known as “my deliveries”. It allows customers to select a safe place for delivery, enabling first time delivery for customers in a location of their choosing. Customers can also use their online profile to send post using “click and post” and bring the payment to a Post Office, where a label is affixed to the item at the Post Office counter, removing the need for printing in the customer’s home. In 2022 we also launched a new version of “post alert” which provides an estimated time of delivery, to help customers to plan their day.
SENATOR
SENATOR is an international “last mile” delivery project between An Post, Correos, the Spanish city of Zaragoza, and Dublin City Council, funded by the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 programme. The project, now in its third year, aims to optimise freight collections and deliveries to reduce the number of delivery vehicles entering European cities. This is in line with the ambition set out in Climate Action Plan 2023, to consider the role and placement of logistics hubs and consolidation centres to enable greater integration and low-carbon alternatives for “last mile” delivery. An Post represented the Irish cohort of SENATOR at the Global Mobility Call conference to promote collaboration and to contribute to the development of sustainable mobility in cities and rural areas.
Limerick CityxChange
An Post continues to take part in the Limerick CityXChange project which aims to a create a positive energy block in the Georgian Quarter in Limerick City. In 2022 we completed the upgrade of all lighting to LED. reducing our energy consumption by 6,000 kWh. In 2023 we have committed to install 10kW of solar energy and to participate in Ireland’s first micro-generation market as part of this project. This will enable us to achieve a further reduction in energy use from the electricity grid and to share any spare energy generated with our local neighbours, reducing energy losses in the grid due to transmission losses.
