The four major shippers are almost all striding towards better climate records, with two making big improvements since last year.
Climate Counts, which scores businesses based on their efforts to review, reduce and report their impacts on the climate, first looked at the
consumer shipping industry last year.
All four shippers - DHL, FedEx, U.S. Postal Service and UPS - have increased their scores, though some did better than others.
FedEx moved from last place with a score of 28 (out of 100) up to second with 53 points. DHL stayed in the lead going from 45 to 67 points. USPS gained seven points, moving up from 43 to 50 points, but moving down from second to third place. And UPS gained only one point, giving it fourth place with 40 points.
FedEx and DHL made big gains due to improving their measurement efforts, setting stronger reduction goals, reporting on reductions and taking increasingly vocal stances on positive policies related to climate change.
The top three shippers are considered "striding" companies, meaning that they are moving forward, but have plenty more work to do.
Climate Counts, a non-profit, scores companies on 22 criteria in four main categories. It gives up to 22 points for how well a company reviews and measures its impact on global warming. Up to 56 points can come from a company's efforts to set goals and actually reduce emissions. A company can get up to 10 points based on its support for climate policies. And the last 12 points come from how well a company reports on its efforts.
Climate Counts provides full scorecards for every company it looks at, showing just where companies are gaining ground and where they are faltering.
