Shipping Green
by Michele Kadison
Shipping packages creates enormous impact on the climate, as so much energy can be spent getting even just one package from point A to point B. Imagine what happens in December, which is generally the busiest month of the year for shipping as consumers send out holiday packages by the dozen. Literally billions of packages are shipped, with UPS alone reporting that on December 19th it generally ships upwards of 22 million packages.
In this regard it is important to identify which shipping companies are doing their part to counteract global warming by reducing their carbon footprint throughout their business practices.
Climate Counts Scores the Shipping Industry
Climate Counts is an organization dedicated to reporting how businesses are doing in regards to climate consciousness. They have created, with the help of a panel of business and climate experts gleaned from academia and non-governmental agencies, a scorecard that measures the efforts of a wide range of businesses. The annual scorecard for the shipping industry is a viable ranking system that allows climate-conscious consumers to decide where to put their money when shipping their goods.
With scores ranging from 1 to 100, with 100 being the perfect rank, Climate Counts rates shipping companies based on 22 criteria. The criteria includes information on each company’s efforts to assess its own carbon footprint, to reduce pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, to support viable legislature dealing with climate control, and to exhibit transparency in its business practices.
Here are some of the rankings for 2008:
DHL: 67 pts (up from 45 in 2007)
Fedex : 53 pts (up from 28 in 2007)
US Postal Service: 50 pts (up from 43 in 2007)
UPS: 40 pts (up from 39 in 2007)
With the improvements made in 2008, we can easily expect even greater improvements in 2009 as businesses learn how to create better paradigms for reducing their carbon footprint.
