Post & Parcel speaks to Julien Le Signor, Head of Environment at Geopost, on the importance of quantifying decarbonisation, increasing awareness of air quality in cities and why he hopes his role will not exist in the future.
Can you tell me about Geopost’s sustainability policies?
We want to position Geopost as a leader in sustainable delivery. Our objectives are to reduce our emissions by 43% by 2030 and ultimately reach net zero emissions by 2040. To get there we have designed a comprehensive sustainability programme and I’m responsible for accelerating all the environmental aspects of the scheme.
Why is sustainability important to you personally?
Climate change is the biggest challenge that society is currently facing. I wouldn’t consider myself useful for society, if I wasn’t working towards finding solutions. I chose to work in logistics because it is one of the only sectors since 1990, that has actually seen emissions growing in Europe. So from a CO2 point of view it is vital to change that to create a better future for all of us, and for future generations. Now we have scientific proof about the issue there is a clear urgency to make changes. Personally I need to be part of this journey. Being sustainable for me is not just a job, it is something I embed into my daily life – it affects how I travel, how I eat and also I have a responsibility to spread awareness.
Where is Geopost on its journey to Net Zero?
At the end of 2023 we announced we had reduced our carbon emissions by 6% compared to 2021. We have deployed 9,172 low emission vehicles and 126 European cities are now fully equipped with low emission delivery solutions.
How do you motivate teams to get behind Geopost’s sustainability vision?
Firstly it is important to bring an overall understanding to our employees of why we are making these changes to encourage them to get behind our vision. My colleague Caryn-Ann Allen is responsible for internal awareness and training and engagement.
Secondly there is an atmosphere of positive competition between different business units and between our sites as well. For example, The Green Flag project in Ireland scores each depot against its efforts to minimise its environmental footprint and maximise social impact. Depots scoring at least 60 out of 100 receive a Green Flag award. The depots are assessed by surveys and every depot gets a report identifying their strengths and areas for improvement. The annual initiative has really spurred on engagement as people want to be the winner.
How do you ensure you decarbonize at the right pace to meet your carbon reduction target?
In September 2022 we launched a way to calculate our decarbonisation policies called The Carbon Budget. Each and every business unit has to submit both the max amount of CO2 they will emit the following year as well as associated costs related to decarbonization levers planned for deployment. Ultimately the Carbon Budget will help us to achieve our SBTI (Science Based Targets Initiative) as we can consolidate data and look across the business to see if we are in line with our targets and on the right trajectory. The aim is to help us to decarbonise at the right pace and if we aren’t on track, make modifications.
What tools have you created to help customers submit their emissions?
Many companies weren’t reporting their emissions because the process was complex and because they didn’t want to report carbon emissions based on spent money: they wanted precise emissions data. We wanted to remove the complexity for companies so a year ago we launched a tool called the Carbon Calculator with three of our biggest customers, giving them access to real-time reliable data. We have designed a product that provides customers with visibility on their carbon emissions from the parcels they send through the Geopost network.
How are you able to be customer specific?
We have records of each of our customers’ volumes and the weight of their items, so if a customer requests their individual emissions, we can use our fully embedded tool to work it out and be as transparent as possible. We can also share our emission targets and how far we have come as a company, for example switching to low emission vehicles and then how many of our low emission vehicles we are using for their specific volumes. We share this data on a monthly or quarterly basis, depending on our customers’ requirements and they can use these figures for their reporting so they can meet their decarbonisation targets.
How are you using the tool to better understand your customers?
The tool creates an understanding of where the hotspots are and where emissions lie. And we can also use it to understand the trends – if a customer’s emissions are increasing we can look to see if it is because the size or weight of their parcels has increased. Once we have the data we can feedback to the customers and offer more sustainable solutions.
How do you plan to expand on the calculator’s capabilities?
At the moment we are using historic data but we are looking into making the tool predictive so we can provide forecasts too.
More generally how is Geopost using technology to compete more sustainably?
We use technology to ensure we bring additional economic value, social value, but also environmental value to our business. For example our solar-powered parcel lockers are battery run and completely autonomous. These bring a lot of flexibility to the businesses who use them. We are also working on fully understanding the life cycle of our environmental products. We understand they bring environmental value but we are interested in quantifying it.
And similarly we are looking at the life cycle of our autonomous, electric robotic locker which is being used in the UK.
Why is collaboration important in sustainability?
Geopost’s approach to innovation is focussed on working with small startups, larger groups and subsidiaries At Geopost, we focus on both technology-based innovations but also on new ways of working by leveraging internal ideas from our subsidiaries, collaborating with larger groups or getting inspired by smaller startups as well.
For example we are running electric vehicle routes in Switzerland with Designwerk Products AG who have retrofitted an electric truck specifically to our specification. They have created a new type of electric truck with a very large battery that can operate more than 600 km of range. We have actually broken a Guiness World Record with this one! We achieved the longest distance covered by an electric truck without a recharging stop. The project team reached a total of 1,099 kilometres in 23 hours — that’s just under 683 miles. Our aim is to demonstrate to the industry as a whole what is possible.
Why did Geopost launch its air quality monitoring programme?
We launched our air quality monitoring programme in 2019 because we have vehicles delivering parcels in city centres where most of the European population live so we have a responsibility to make sure we reduce air pollutants as much as possible. We partnered with a company called Pollutrack who are in charge of collecting data. The basic principle is to measure fine particles in dense urban areas, by putting sensors on the roof of parcel delivery vehicles. We then share this data with both city authorities that have the power to act to improve the air quality, and also with members of the public. We believe there is a lack of awareness around air pollution so every customer receiving a parcel from Geopost will get access to a link with air quality data on it. They can then type in their address and look at the air quality for the past 24 hours in their area and see the recommendations of what to do if there is a high rate of pollution. We are also working with organisations like the Asthma Society in Dublin, who support people who are particularly sensitive to air pollutants. We are really proud of this project and have now rolled out sensors in 28 cities in Europe.
What are the obstacles to decarbonisation?
I think it’s very easy to have innovative ideas, but rolling them out, testing them out, validating them and then scaling them up is the key challenge, especially when it comes to decarbonisation, we have an impact only with scale.
So I always look at projects in terms of both their environmental and social value – we are not just looking for return on investment.
How would you like people to see Geopost in terms of sustainability?
As a responsible brand, we are doing everything we can to reduce our impact on the climate, on air quality, all the other issues that I mentioned, but we are also a socially responsible company as well, and this transition I talked about will also be fair. And that’s a key element to be mindful of when we consider new technologies, such as AI or, or others that potentially will benefit the transition, but also, socially speaking, will have tremendous impact.
I also want them to see us as a company that is at the forefront of the adoption of all new decarbonization practices, low emission vehicles and transport as a whole.
How do you envisage Geopost in the future?
I think in 10 years’ time, the whole context will be vastly different. I have seen significant change in the past few years and therefore, I expect change to accelerate in the years to come. What I wish is that sustainable decarbonisation practices are fully integrated into operations and become the new norm within the next 10 years. My job will be redundant because the whole business will be totally aligned with new sustainable practices. Our vision is already embedded into Geopost but it is a period of transition, and our 10-year vision is all about reaching that point.
About Julien
Julien is an entrepreneurial engineer, leading cross-functional projects tackling issues spanning from climate change, urban air quality and circular economy at Geopost, international leader in parcel delivery and solutions for e-commerce.
He started his career at DHL Group, where he was in charge of developing a new service for managing the logistics of automotive lithium ion batteries, but also implemented low-emission logistics solutions.
Julien is now head of Environment at Geopost head office in the Sustainability department of the company. His latest achievements at Geopost include having Geopost’s 2040 net-zero targets endorsed by the Science Based Targets initiative and the current roll out of a carbon measurement tool amongst shippers throughout Europe.
