Australia Post has announced it will abandon its goal of carbon-neutral deliveries despite an existing commitment to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.
The national postal service will abandon the Certified Carbon Neutral Delivery program on August 12.
Customers have received a letter from Australia Post to inform them of the upcoming change, it said. 2 GB.
“While we are proud of what we have achieved by investing in the program, the sustainability landscape has changed,” the letter reads.
Instead, Australia Post will continue to focus on its corporate emissions reduction target, which includes achieving net zero.
Australia Post introduced carbon neutral deliveries in 2019 as an environmentally sustainable way to deliver parcels.
The program works by purchasing carbon credits to offset greenhouse gas emissions.
Carbon credits are earned by carrying out activities that store, reduce or avoid greenhouse gas emissions.
The national postal service will abandon the carbon neutral certified delivery program on August 12 (file image)
Each carbon credit represents one metric ton of greenhouse gas emissions removed from the atmosphere.
An Australia Post spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia that the postal service remains committed to achieving its sustainability goals.
“Australia Post will focus on its own decarbonisation initiatives as a more effective strategy to reduce carbon emissions rather than purchasing carbon offsets through the Carbon Neutral Delivery Program,” the spokesperson said.
‘We are proud of our approach to sustainability, set out in our Sustainability Roadmap 2025, and were the first government-owned commercial enterprise to target net-zero emissions by 2050.’
Despite the move, Daily Mail Australia understands there will be no further changes to Australia Post’s carbon reduction measures.
This includes their commitment to net zero and recycling of packaging and waste.
An Australia Post spokesperson said the organisation remains committed to its sustainability goals, including a net-zero emissions target by 2050 despite the latest announcement (file image)
The Sustainability Roadmap 2025 indicates that Australia Post aims to achieve these goals by investing in renewable energy and expanding its range of sustainable packaging.
The federal government has pledged to cut emissions by 43 percent by 2030 as part of efforts to help limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Experts have warned that the country will not be able to achieve this goal if emissions in the electricity sector are not reduced.
Power generation, which involves burning fossil fuels to produce electricity, accounts for more than 30 percent of Australia’s emissions.
The government has set a target of having 82 percent of the national electricity grid powered by renewable energy by 2030.
Australia will also have to take into account emissions from other sectors, such as transport and agriculture.
It has also been recommended to improve vehicle efficiency standards by extending these regulations to trucks and buses and encouraging the adoption of electric vehicles.
