Sustainability is Not Just a Business Mission; it's a Moral Obligation

Over the past several months, I’ve talked to many small business customers in the U.S. and abroad, as well as other business leaders who are making sustainability a core part of their mission. The results of a recent sustainability survey by DHL Express reflect this focus: 95% of all respondents think sustainability is critical to their business.

But let’s be honest, thinking that sustainability is important, versus actually doing something to measurably reduce CO2 emissions is something else altogether. I’m a firm believer in the idea that the time for talk is over, and the time for action to protect our planet is here.

Unfortunately, many organizations are stuck in neutral, overwhelmed by the calculations they’re making about the cost of implementation. In fact, in our survey, 42% of respondents said that the overall financial investment is the biggest challenge they see in the sustainability equation.

But the truth is, there are small, cost-effective steps that every company can take right now to turn their goals into action. If your company has a fleet of vehicles, for instance, maybe you can’t go electric with all of them, but you can start with one EV to get the process in gear. Maybe you can’t retrofit your office facility to achieve carbon-neutral status because you lease your space, but you can push your landlord to install energy efficient lighting and HVAC. There are many other opportunities to start your sustainability journey with limited resources. At DHL Express, we continue to find ways to support these growing businesses. For example, currently, in the U.S., we’ve launched our DHL GoGreen Giveaway.

My view is this: while we are on this planet, each of us has a moral and ethical responsibility to do our part to protect and improve it. We have an obligation to be bold, and to make sacrifices when necessary. Future generations depend upon what we do now, so it’s incumbent on us, collectively, to be bold in every way we can.

Taking the small steps

It might seem counterintuitive to think that the small steps I mentioned earlier can equate to bold action, but I believe they do. The point is to use every possible opportunity to reduce your company’s carbon footprint and the amount of waste produced. That will mean using sustainable packaging for your shipments to customers, vendors or partners. At DHL, we’ve prioritized green packaging practices and offer comprehensive guidance to help you understand the best way to use and re-use materials.

Other steps might involve improving energy-saving practices in your business facilities. It might mean encouraging your employees to embrace sustainability, and even offering them incentives to use public transportation to come to work.

Partnering for success

For almost every company, the supply chain represents the biggest part of the carbon footprint. So finding the right partners, from manufacturing to transportation to warehousing, can help you meet specific carbon reduction goals, with results that can be clearly demonstrated to your customers and stakeholders.

At DHL, we want to empower our customers to play a major role in conservation, which is why we launched GoGreen Plus, a new service that allows customers to reduce (‘inset’) the carbon emissions associated with their shipments through the use of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) – or fuel derived from waste oil. Insetting through GoGreen Plus allows customers to bring down their Scope 3 emissions, the indirect greenhouse gas emissions that occur in a company's value chain, including downstream transportation and distribution. Unlike offsetting initiatives, GoGreen Plus directly reduces emissions within the logistics sector and can therefore be used for a DHL customer’s own voluntary emissions reporting, following the Science Based Target Initiative (SBTi) philosophy.

Getting the word out

By involving employees, stakeholders and customers in the sustainability mission, SMEs can make a broader impact, building loyalty and engagement. We all know that customers and employees actively seek out companies with proven ESG practices in place, and so communicating your actual carbon reduction results is vital. By sharing your stories and by explaining the very real threat facing our planet, you can also inspire others to take steps in their own lives to reduce energy use and embrace sustainability. That’s something I know about first-hand, because DHL has made a point of encouraging and inspiring our employees to be involved. Our sustainability training programs and volunteer initiatives are engaging our teams, and improving our planet.

Understanding the connection between talk and action

At DHL, we’ve set an aggressive target of net-zero emissions by 2050, and we are taking the concrete steps necessary to turn talk into action, including nearly 30,000 electric vehicles on the road (globally) for last mile delivery today, with a target of 60% electrification by 2030; large-scale investments in sustainable aviation fuels, with one of the largest corporate commitments in the world more than 800 million liters through 2026; the purchase of up to 12 state-of-the-art electric cargo aircraft (Alice eCargo) by 2027; and the transition of warehouses and other facilities to carbon-neutral by implementing new energy-saving technologies.

At the end of the day, the sustainability mission has to be a team effort. It needs to be something we do together, and also something that unites us economically, socially and globally. DHL’s sustainability achievements aren’t just about DHL – they are about our customers, employees, and partners. They’re about doing what is right. Similarly, for your company, doing the right thing will take all the help you can get, and partners like DHL stand ready to help.

Learn more about our DPDHL Sustainability Roadmap and let me know what you think in the comments.