Dive Brief:
- Having achieved its 2021 environmental goals to cut emissions by 30% four years early, Deutsche Post DHL Group has now raised the target to reach 0% emissions by 2050, the Loadstar reported recently. The company is considering building its own power generating system to reach that goal if the government does not assist.
- The company's commitment to the environment is so strong that in 2014, it purchased Street Scooter, an electric car maker. Two thousand vehicles have already been produced; the company expects that total to reach 10,000 by the end of 2017.
- DP DHL also has a Go Green initiative that includes four targets to reach by 2025: a 50% lower output in carbon efficiency, which will also be required by sub-contractors; a net carbon neutrality rate of 70% from its delivery fleet; 50% sales requiring Go Green solutions, and the planting of one million trees every year, at a spot yet to be determined each year.
Dive Insight:
Effective leadership setting consistent, achievable goals is the best means of reaching in-house sustainability, as DHL demonstrates. Reaching targets and then setting higher standards allows a company to make incremental changes that lead to success — and to gradually pass those goals forward to members of its supply chain to expand the initiative beyond its own four walls.
Other, similar methods suggested by a sustainability consultancy involve a ladder metaphor in which each rung builds on the former: building awareness to support sustainability, assuring supplier compliance with company sustainability standards, managing priorities, which suggests identifying opportunities for impact within the supply chain, and finally driving impact and innovation.
The two are not mutually exclusive, as innovation and supply chain involvement mix together within DHL's strategy. What sets DHL apart, however, is its internal accountability and investment in its directives, evidenced by its willingness to support its own sustainability efforts, whether through the purchase of Street Scooter or its stated intent to build its own power generating system.
