A Shifting Delivery Model Leads to Higher Emissions, Energy Use for UPS

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ATLANTA, Ga. -- Growth in residential deliveries and acquisitions led United Parcel Service (UPS) to fall short of a handful of environmental targets, highlighting the challenges companies face when trying to grow their business while simultaneously reducing their ecological footprint.

Absolute and per-package greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption rose in 2007 but fell when normalized against revenue, according to its latest sustainability report (PDF). Water use grew and although fuel consumption dipped from 2006, it just missed meeting a 2007 goal set in 2002.

"If you remember, we set five year goals," said UPS Spokeswoman Elizabeth Rasberry. "Business has changed considerably during that time."

Since UPS established its five year environmental goals, the Internet has fueled an increase in residential deliveries that typically require more driving. Thirty percent of its deliveries are residential, up from 20 percent. Reliability issues also forced UPS to shift some rail deliveries to ground. Acquisitions of other companies have also played a role.

"As that comes, we continue to challenge ourselves to set achievable goals and making sure we can get relevant data from those different business units," Rasberry said.

The news wasn't all bad: UPS turned to technology to make its packaging routing more efficient, including avoiding left turns. Its Package Flow Technology eliminated nearly 30 million miles from delivery routes and saved 3 million gallons of gas. UPS also recycled more than 45,000 tons of solid waste and pursued renewable energy at several California facilities.

The company had .8 kilograms of aircraft emissions per 1,000 kilograms of payload capacity in 2007, a 1.2 percent improvement compared to 2006 but shy of its goal of .77 kilograms. The company attributed this to keeping some less fuel-efficient aircraft in service longer than anticipated.

UPS is in the midst of setting additional three to five year environmental goals. "We have quite a large cross-functional team ... that are now making sure we have all the input from all players so everyone has a say during the goal-setting process," Rasberry said.

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