Feilder hopes that within the next three to four years, EU regulations will help cajole manufacturers into producing more carbon-efficient vehicles. But in the meantime, the company is taking matters into its own hands, setting up an incubation unit that will provide capital for cleantech startups that the company hopes can address its transport challenges.

It then hopes to trial any low-carbon technology they develop, which will primarily relate to vehicles, before rolling it out across its global fleet.

"The cleantech bubble hasn't yet given us the opportunities we were hoping for and this is our way of giving it a boost," says Feilder.

Neutralization

All these initiatives will take time to deliver deep cuts in emissions, so in the interim DHL has committed to a program of carbon neutralization.

"The environmental industry has done a bad job of persuading people about the benefits of carbon offsets, but many schemes are kosher," argues Feilder. "The key is to make all the other possible changes that you can first, and then offset to meet your targets."

The company is buying offsets currently, but hopes this will be a short-term fix. "We absolutely believe it's possible to get to a carbon neutral supply chain eventually, and that is our aim," says Feilder.

Of course, it remains to be seen if a company that is so reliant on global supply chains can deliver such deep emission cuts over the next decade. But if it can provide a template for other firms to follow, the global economy will have taken a major step towards decarbonizing its sprawling supply chains.