Asendia's Chief HR Officer explains how we are striding towards a greener future

This article was written and published by http://www.parcelandpostaltechnologyinternational.com in December 2020. 

Barbara Schielke is Asendia's Chief Human Resources Officer. She joined Parcel & Postal Technology to discuss the Green Vision of Asendia. 

What can you tell us about Asendia and its commitment to sustainability?

Asendia is proud to continue in the footsteps of our founding companies – La Poste and Swiss Post – by taking positive, responsible actions to minimize our impact on the environment. We are committed to sustainability. We offset all our CO2 emissions for transportation within Europe and from Europe to other continents. And we are continuing to work hard all over the world to do even better through our commitment to measuring, reducing, offsetting and advising.

Asendia has recently received EcoAct certification. Can you tell us what that means and how you achieved it?

EcoAct certification is recognition of Asendia’s carbon-neutral status. This year (as in previous years) all Asendia's methods of transporting parcels sent within Europe were 100% carbon neutral. So too were those for parcels sent from Europe to other continents.

To achieve carbon-neutral status, we have first to measure our emissions. In an ideal world, the next step would be to try to reduce these transportation-related emissions. However, in our business this is still very hard because most of our clients expect speedy delivery at reasonable prices.

What are you doing if you are not able to reduce your transportation-related carbon emissions?

We’re offsetting them. Offsetting is where you make up for your emissions by reducing CO2 elsewhere. For example, in the UK we’ve partnered with the Woodland Trust to plant 62,000 trees. In India we have invested in wind farms that can provide clean energy to 600,000 people per year. The really great thing about the wind farms is that the benefits go beyond sustainability. They create jobs for the local economy and the profits go back into local causes such as education and infrastructure.

Measure, reduce and offset emissions are three of the four pillars of your sustainability policy. What’s the fourth?

The fourth one is to advise. This is about reaching out to our customers to help them reduce their own carbon footprint.

"We offer free advice and waste-saving services such as data cleaning and digitized returns."

By not sending undeliverable mail, and not receiving physical copies of returned mail, our customers can save money and can help to save the planet. Asendia knows that climate action is needed now. That is why we are doing all we can to lead the whole market in the right direction.

e-PAQ, Asendia’s new range of e-commerce delivery solutions, launches in January 2021. How have you incorporated your commitment to sustainability in this new service?

With e-PAQ, we wanted to create a range of e-commerce solutions that are easy to use, flexible and cost-effective. But just as importantly, we wanted to create a service that is sustainable. e-PAQ allows us to implement our sustainability policy right across the globe through all our subsidiaries. Our e-PAQ services to France and Switzerland are the highlight of our global sustainability offer. If items are directly added into the La Poste or Swiss Post network (direct access), deliveries are 100% carbon neutral, including for the last-mile delivery. 

For more information on Asendia Sustainability, visit www.asendia.com/sustainability.