Our climate efforts are based on the company’s strategy and climate science. In 2022, Posti became the world’s first logistics company to have its net zero target approved by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). SBTi is akin to a Paris Agreement for businesses, and Posti is committed to achieving the targets 10 years earlier than required by the Paris Agreement. Our target is to reduce our own emissions and our value chain emissions to net-zero by 2040. In addition, our targets for 2030 include exclusively using fossil-free energy to power all of our vehicles and our partners’ vehicles and using only fossil-free energy at the properties we use.
In total, our greenhouse gas emissions in 2023 amounted to approximately 202,530 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e). Our total emissions decreased by 17.4% and our own emissions (Scope 1 and 2) were reduced by 16.1% when compared to the previous year. We are making good progress towards our targets for our own emissions and the emissions generated by our value chain. Emissions and reduction methods are described in figure Net- zero roadmap on top of this page. M detailed information on our emissions can be found on the Sustainability Report.
Merely setting targets is not enough. One important milestone on the road to fossil- free logistics is the clean vehicle roadmap we published in 2022. It serves as a financially feasible plan to deploy as many as thousands of new electric, biogas and hydrogen vehicles by 2030. In 2023, we began to prepare fleet roadmaps for our contract carriers in close cooperation with them.
We made progress with our investments in accordance with the fleet roadmaps in 2023. In spring 2023, we deployed our first fully electric semi-trailer truck. At the end of 2023, in addition to the first electric truck, we and our contract carriers had a total of about 340 electric vans, 11 electric trucks, 45 gas-powered heavy trucks, 12 gas-powered trucks and over 2,000 light electric vehicles ranging from scooters to electric carts in use. In our nationwide basic delivery, for example, we deliver to nearly half of all households using electricity, and the corresponding figure in the capital region is over 90%. We also continuously reduce the emissions of our parcel and freight deliveries. In major cities, the final kilometer of a parcel’s journey is now mostly electric.
All of the electricity used in our own and our partners’ electric vehicles in Finland is fossil-free energy with guarantees of origin, and all of our gas vehicles are fueled by biogas. Posti also purchases guarantees of origin for those of its sold transports for which the energy used is not charged at Posti’s own charging stations. We increased the use of renewable diesel by almost 10% in our own fleet and by approximately 35% in our contract carriers’ transports. Nevertheless, our goal is to phase out diesel-powered vehicles. Renewable diesel is not currently a financially competitive alternative to basic diesel.
During the year, our own vehicles were used to cover nearly 97 million kilometers, while the fleet of contract carriers and other partners covered an estimated 110 million kilometers. This is equivalent to a total of traveling just under 5,200 times around the Earth. However, a kilometer that is never driven produces the least emissions. That is why we continuously develop route optimization and driving styles as well as filling rates and packing. An inefficiently packed vehicle and transporting air between parcels or inside transport packages causes unnecessary driving.
For our properties, we managed to slightly increase the share of fossil-free energy in 2023 despite increased district heating consumption due to the colder weather. Fossil-free energy represented 71.5% of the energy consumption of properties across all of our countries of operation. In total, 99% of the electricity we consumed was fossil-free (100% in Finland) and 44% of district heating was fossil-free. We incorporated nuclear power into our energy mix in 2023. The electricity purchased in Finland is still fully fossil-free, and at least half of the electricity we purchase must be renewable. We approved nuclear power for cost reasons and to ensure the adequate availability of electricity in the coming years as transport is electrified at an accelerating rate.
In our new properties, we invest heavily in sustainability right from the design stage. In the fall of 2023, we published a release on
our new warehouse under construction in Järvenpää. When completed, it will be one of the largest warehouses in Finland. The Järvenpää warehouse will utilize modern technology and automation, and the building will be designed to be highly energy-efficient. Geothermal heat will be used for heating the building and solar power for producing electricity. Its central location in the vicinity of the capital region will streamline goods logistics and commuting. Posti is also a signatory to the voluntary energy efficiency agreement for properties in Finland, and the target set for 2025 has already been achieved two times over.
We have actively participated in international and national cooperation to develop transport emissions data. At the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 2023, international guidelines for reporting shipment- specific emissions were published, and Posti was the only Finnish company to participate in the development of the guidelines. We updated the emissions report for freight shipments to correspond to the new standards and guidelines in early 2023. For parcels and postal items, the customer reports will be updated in 2024. Posti’s new customer reports also correspond to the upcoming EU obligations concerning the reporting of transport emissions and adhere to the EN-ISO 14083 standard published in 2023.
An International framework for the Book and Claim model of transports was also published in 2023. Shipments from a single customer
are usually spread between several different vehicles, and the framework makes it possible to earmark fossil-free shipments for a specific customer. The framework provides a transitional solution for customers who want to purchase completely fossil-free transport services already today. In 2023, Posti launched the Green Freight additional service for its freight customers based on this international framework.
