Environmental programs and initiatives

At Canada Post, we’re committed to being environmentally responsible. Due to the nature of our business, the size of our fleet—one of the largest in Canada—and our huge network, our environmental impact is substantial. As a result, we strive to be proactive in our environmental programs and initiatives.

We have adopted appropriate targets for reducing our impact. Read the details about our progress in our latest Social Responsibility report.

Our priorities

• Reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20% from 2008 to 2020.
• Register all major new Canada Post-owned building projects for LEED™ certification.
• Divert 65% of our waste from landfills.

Our successes in 2010

• Reduced greenhouse gas emissions from our fleet by 5% and buildings by 3%.
• Registered 3 building projects for LEED certification giving a total of 14.
• Opened a state-of-the-art mail processing plant in Winnipeg. Our largest LEED-registered building project, the plant is expected to deliver energy savings of 40% over conventional buildings.
• Increased our landfill diversion rate from 57% in 2009 to 62%.
• Replaced all printers, faxes and copiers with multi-function devices that are expected to reduce paper use by 30%.
• Purchased 30 alternative-fuelled vehicles.
• Replaced 870 conventionally-fuelled vehicles.

Our products

We are minimizing our carbon footprint by offering consumers and businesses greener choices.

• Efficient mailing reduces the environmental impact of mail.
  Our technology helps businesses keep mailing lists clean and accurate, which reduces undeliverable mail and waste—and the carbon footprint of delivery.
• Green envelopes
  Our prepaid envelopes for Xpresspost™ and Priority™ Next A.M. are 100% recyclable and include post-consumer recycled content. We offset carbon emissions related to the life cycle of the envelopes by buying carbon credits through Zerofootprint.

The environmental impact of mail

Paper and greenhouse gas emissions are often cited as the top 2 concerns when it comes to mail’s environmental footprint. We understand that mail is an important service to Canadians and we are committed to reducing its environmental footprint.

Paper

When sourced responsibly, paper can be a truly sustainable resource.

• Energy and fibre is needed to produce paper, but bioenergy accounts for more than 60% of the total energy used by Canada’s forest industry.
• Less than 1% of Canada’s forests are harvested annually¹.
• Canada has more third-party certified forest than any other country (142.8 million hectares).
• Paper is Canada’s most recycled and reused product.

Greenhouse gas emissions

Greenhouse gas emissions from mail processing and delivery account for only about 1/10 of 1%² of a typical Canadian household’s total emissions. To put that into perspective:

• An average daily commute to work emits more CO2 emissions than processing and delivering 100 pieces of mail³.
• Using a tank of regular gas in a mid-sized car produces more emission than processing and delivering 4,000 mail items⁴—that’s more mail than the average household receives in 4 years.

¹Natural Resources Canada. The State of Canada’s Forests.
²Environment Canada. Estimated direct and indirect household GHG emissions.
³Fuel Consumption Rating, Natural Resources Canada, Office of Energy Efficiency – Assumptions: Mid-size car, 2009 model average, one way commute of 7.6 km (15.2 km roundtrip).
⁴Based on 12.7 million households and a national total of 10.8 billion pieces, 2009 Canada Post Annual Report.