by AKMAR ANNUAR / pic BLOOMBERG

POS Malaysia Bhd has joined the International Post Corp (IPC) Sustainability Measurement and Management System (SMMS) programme as a part of the group’s sustainability strategy.

This move made it the 22nd member of the IPC to join the programme, which aims at managing sustainability and reducing the collective carbon footprint of the postal industry.

IPC CEO Holger Winklbauer said Pos Malaysia as the first South-East Asian post participating in the programme demonstrates the value of working together as a sector in order to make a difference for the planet.

Through this global industry approach to climate change, posts have been able to reduce their carbon emissions by 34% since the launch of the programme in 2008.

As an organisation that has been connecting Malaysians for more than 200 years, Pos Malaysia is focused on building a sustainability framework based on sound economic, environmental and social (EES) strategies and approaches to effect profound and impactful lasting changes.

The group recognised that to do so requires a significant fleet of vehicles, and road transportation has the second highest contribution to CO2 emissions, contributing over 20% of total emissions in Malaysia in 2016.

As such, it is committed to a 30% reduction in its scope one and two emissions by 2025, with aspirations to achieve net zero carbon by 2040.

Moreover, as part of its sustainability transformation plan and decarbonising efforts, Pos Malaysia group CEO Charles Brewer said everything the group does serves the purpose of being passionate about building trust to connect lives and businesses for a better future.

“This commitment guides us in our efforts and sense of responsibility, underscores our values, focuses on our mission, and creates long-term value. Fulfilling our purpose requires us to make every dimension of our business sustainable.

“We are committed towards upgrading our internal combustion engine fleet to electric vehicles, improving the efficiency of our operations, and utilising cleaner energy sources by installing Solar Photovoltaic (PV) panels throughout our facilities, among other sustainable initiatives planned,” he said in a statement.

Through this programme, Pos Malaysia will benefit from a common third-party audited sustainability measurement and reporting system, including for carbon emissions.

Furthermore, the programme provides a benchmark against which posts can measure progress and strategies by comparison to other leading postal operators, including insights into how to improve sustainability performance.

Posts across the world have committed to halving their yearly collective CO2 emissions by 2030 compared to 2019 levels through best practice sharing at numerous events, workshops and webinars, participating posts learn from each other and continue to make improvements.

To meet this goal, posts will focus mainly on emissions generated by buildings and transportation, which respectively account for 44% and 56% of their total emissions.

Posts aim to have 50% of their fleet as alternative fuel vehicles (against 24% in 2021), of which 25% of electric vehicles (against 17% in 2021) and 75% of their energy consumed, generated from renewable sources (against 34% in 2021) by 2030.