Pos Malaysia joins posts worldwide in strive to reduce carbon footprint

Kuala Lumpur, 12 January 2023 – Pos Malaysia Berhad (Pos Malaysia) becomes the 22nd member of the International Post Corporation (IPC) Sustainability Measurement and Management System (SMMS) programme, which aims at managing sustainability and reducing the collective carbon footprint of the postal industry. Through this unique global industry approach to climate change, posts have been able to reduce their carbon emissions by 34% since the launch of the programme in 2008.

Joining the SMMS programme is part of Pos Malaysia’s sustainability strategy. As an organisation that has been connecting Malaysians for more than 200 years, Pos Malaysia continues to be committed towards shaping future-forward responsible policies and strategies.

The national postal and parcel service provider is focused on building a sustainability framework based on sound Economic, Environmental and Social (EES) strategies and approaches in order to effect profound and impactful lasting changes.

Holger Winklbauer, CEO of IPC said, “We are delighted to welcome Pos Malaysia as a new member of the SMMS programme and first South-East Asian post participating in the programme, demonstrating the value of working together as a sector in order to make a difference for the planet.”

Connecting Malaysians through the widest reach and market-leading service, Pos Malaysia recognises that to do so requires a significant fleet of vehicles, and road transportation has the second highest contribution to CO2 emissions, contributing over 20% of total emissions in Malaysia in 2016. As such, as part of its sustainability transformation plan and decarbonising efforts, Pos Malaysia is committed to a 30% reduction in its scope one and two emissions by 2025, with aspirations to achieve net zero carbon by 2040.

Charles Brewer, Group CEO of Pos Malaysia Berhad said, “Everything we do at Pos Malaysia serves one purpose, which is to be passionate about building trust to connect lives and businesses for a better tomorrow. This commitment guides us in our efforts and sense of responsibility, underscores our values, focuses on our mission, and creates long-term value. Fulfilling our purpose requires us to make every dimension of our business sustainable.

“We are committed towards upgrading our internal combustion engine (ICE) fleet to electric vehicles, improving the efficiency of our operations, and utilising cleaner energy sources by installing Solar Photovoltaic (PV) panels throughout our facilities, among other sustainable initiatives planned,” he said.

The IPC SMMS programme was launched in 2019 to address the sustainability objectives of the postal sector for the next ten years, aligned with the UN Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs). It expands on the 2009-2019 Environmental Measurement and Monitoring System (EMMS) programme, which focused on reducing carbon emissions, and broadens the remit to the seven sustainability focus areas most relevant for the postal sector: Health and safety, Learning and development, Resource efficiency, Climate change, Air quality, Circular economy and Sustainable procurement, in line with the UN SDGs.

 

By joining the SMMS programme, Pos Malaysia will benefit from a common third-party audited sustainability measurement and reporting system, including for carbon emissions. Through best practice sharing at numerous events, workshops and webinars, participating posts learn from each other and continue to make improvements. The programme provides a benchmark against which posts can measure progress and strategies by comparison to other leading postal operators, including insights into how to improve sustainability performance.

 

Through the IPC SMMS programme, posts across the world have committed to halving their yearly collective CO2 emissions by 2030 compared to 2019 levels. To meet this goal, posts will focus mainly on own emissions generated by buildings and transportation, which respectively account for 44% and 56% of their total emissions. By 2030, posts collectively aim to have 50% of their fleet as alternative fuel vehicles (against 24% in 2021), of which 25% of electric vehicles (against 17% in 2021) and 75% of their energy consumed, generated from renewable sources (against 34% in 2021).