Environmental programs and initiatives

At Canada Post, we’re committed to being environmentally responsible. Due to the nature of our business, the size of our fleet—one of the largest in Canada—and our huge network, our environmental impact is substantial. As a result, we strive to be proactive in our environmental programs and initiatives.

We have adopted appropriate targets for reducing our impact. Read the details about our progress in our latest Social Responsibility report.

Our priorities

• Reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20% from 2008 to 2020.
• Register all major new Canada Post-owned building projects for LEED™ certification.
• Divert 65% of our waste from landfills.

Our successes in 2011

• Reduced greenhouse gas emissions from our fleet by 4.5% and fuel consumption by 3.7%.
• Converted 100 vehicles to propane. Each vehicle is expected to show annual reductions of approximately 8,000 kg of CO₂ and $3,000 in fuel cost compared to the same gas powered vehicle.
• Had three delivery depots certified by the Canada Green Building Council as LEED Silver.
• Registered nine building projects for LEED certification giving a total of 23, accounting for 7.5% of the total square meters of our building portfolio.
• Increased our landfill diversion rate to 67%, up from 62% in 2010.
• Reduced paper consumption by 9% over 2010; 19% since 2009 following the replacement of printers, faxes and photocopiers with new multi-function devices.

The environmental impact of mail

Paper and greenhouse gas emissions are often cited as the top 2 concerns when it comes to mail’s environmental footprint. We understand that mail is an important service to Canadians and we are committed to reducing its environmental footprint.

Paper

When sourced responsibly, paper can be a truly sustainable resource.

• Energy and fibre is needed to produce paper, but bioenergy accounts for more than 60% of the total energy used by Canada’s forest industry.
• Less than 1% of Canada’s forests are harvested annually¹.
• Canada has more third-party certified forest than any other country (142.8 million hectares).
• Paper is Canada’s most recycled and reused product.

Greenhouse gas emissions

Greenhouse gas emissions from mail processing and delivery account for only about 1/10 of 1%² of a typical Canadian household’s total emissions. To put that into perspective:

• An average daily commute to work emits more CO₂ emissions than processing and delivering 100 pieces of mail³.
• Using a tank of regular gas in a mid-sized car produces more emission than processing and delivering 4,000 mail items⁴—that’s more mail than the average household receives in 4 years.
• A 10-kilometre roundtrip to the mall to purchase a single item would produce approximately three to five times as much CO₂ when compared to purchasing the same item online and having it delivered by Canada Post.

¹Natural Resources Canada. The State of Canada’s Forests.
²Environment Canada. Estimated direct and indirect household GHG emissions.
³Fuel Consumption Rating, Natural Resources Canada, Office of Energy Efficiency – Assumptions: Mid-size car, 2009 model average, one way commute of 7.6 km (15.2 km roundtrip).
⁴Based on 12.7 million households and a national total of 10.8 billion pieces, 2009 Canada Post Annual Report.