Make it easy for your customers to choose the lowest emission deliveries.
The last steps your product takes are ours. And they’re lighter than ever.
Our emissions per parcel are 205gCO2e, which is the lowest of any CO2 per parcel reported in our industry.1 Our posties are the reason why emissions are so much lower. Approximately two thirds of our delivery routes are made purely on foot (or through our ‘park and loop’ method which is also largely on foot).
By using Royal Mail, you’ll benefit from low emission returns too.
With Parcel Collect, our posties can pick up Royal Mail Tracked Returns® parcels at the same time as they deliver along their usual route.
This prevents additional journeys, meaning fewer emissions and less congestion! And to save on paper we can bring the returns label along, so you don’t have to send one out with every order.
Don’t offset your emissions, reduce them
70% of UK shoppers would choose an environmentally friendly delivery over a traditional one if given the choice.3
We’ll help you reduce your delivery footprint, making your online business more attractive to today’s eco-conscious shoppers.
You get familiar with your local postman or woman and having that same person deliver your chocolates beautifully packaged is added confidence.
Hotel Chocolat were selling chocolates online in 1993; opening their first store in Watford in 2004. The business now has over 140 shops and a hotel in a 275-year-old sustainable cacao farm in St Lucia.
Sustainability and ethics are integral to the brand. In Martin’s words, they “run right through our entire business,” and Royal Mail’s ‘feet on the street’ network is a key part. “We’ve got a great story of sustainability. From Saint Lucia, to our manufacturing in Huntingdon, right out to our customers - and Royal Mail fits into that.”
“Collaboration is key to net zero carbon. There’s no other way we can do it,” says Sarah Leveridge, Hotel Chocolat’s Head of Packaging Innovation and Sustainability. “We’ll be collaborating with Royal Mail to achieve our goals.”
The whole ethics of the local posties delivering parcels is really important to us.
Ethical Stationery (Ethstat) were the first business procurement company to be carbon neutral back in 2004. Fast forward to the pandemic and the number of consumers shopping sustainably reached a record high, for which Ethstat now use Royal Mail Tracked 48®.
Ethstat has always tirelessly interrogated their partners’ sustainability, so it’s testament to Royal Mail that Yasmin feels so happy with their offering.
“Just the fact that a Royal Mail driver will park up and then walk along and deliver,” Yasmin remarks, “The carbon emission saving has got to be phenomenal - and I love that.” And as for the future? “Some real innovation is happening at Royal Mail - I’m so happy to hear about electric vehicles and what they’re pushing to do in that sector.”
We’re committed to net zero by 2040. On foot deliveries play a big part; here’s what else we’re doing:
Reducing the use of domestic air freight and increasing our use of rail.
100% renewable electricity used across all our buildings.
Continuing to grow our electric fleet currently made up of 4,725 electric vehicles!
Trialling new low and zero-emission technologies for heavier vehicles, and getting ready to embrace them when they are available to deploy at scale.
Increasing efficiency of our deliveries and the fuel used, including optimising our road distribution network and exploring use of transitional alternative fuels.
Trialling fully electric micro vehicles (the size of a golf buggy and charged by three-pin plug) as a low-carbon alternative to vans in residential areas.
Embracing circularity through enabling re-use models and reducing single use items.
Undertaking a complete review of our packaging and developing a plan to increase our use of recycled content and sustainably designed products.
Reducing our volumes of waste by 15% by 2025 and 25% by 2030.
Championing sustainability and driving industry change, including lobbying policymakers about the urgent need for more electric vehicle adoption and charging infrastructure.
Calling for industry-wide, standardised reporting on gCO2e so customers can make informed decisions about their carbon footprints.
The whole ethics of the local posties delivering parcels is really important to us.
