Red letter day as Royal Mail joins 10:10 climate change campaign

• Biggest organisation so far to back emissions effort• Customers and employees encouraged to join in
John Crace
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 9 September 2009 19.05 BST
The Royal Mail has become the latest major business to sign up to 10:10, the national climate change campaign to reduce carbon emissions in the UK by 10% in 2010. With 176,000 employees, it is the largest organisation to commit to 10:10 so far.
Royal Mail will not only seek to reduce its CO2 emissions in 2010 but will encourage its staff and business customers to do the same. The company says it has already reduced its operational emissions by more than 5% over the past three to four years.
In the next 12 months Royal Mail intends to: roll out more double-decker delivery trucks, which can carry more items per vehicle; improve route planning to reduce the total distance travelled; encourage its staff to reduce their emissions at home as well as at work; and offer cost savings to business customers that commit to only sending mail using sustainable paper and fully recyclable packaging.
"Royal Mail believes 10:10 is a great initiative and one that we're proud to be part of," said chief executive, Adam Crozier. "We know we can do much more for the future, both by driving down Royal Mail's own carbon usage throughout the country and by making it easy for companies who send a lot of mail to use the most environmentally friendly option."
Dr Martin Blake, head of sustainability for Royal Mail said the company planned to reduce its emissions by 50% by 2015.He said: "Our process is avoid, reduce, replace and offset. So first we aim to avoid emitting carbon, for example by eliminating unnecessary journeys. Reduction will see us trying to cut the amount of fossil fuel we use. Replacement will see the fuel we use replaced with low or zero carbon equivalents. And finally, we'll offset."
Franny Armstrong, who founded 10:10 and directed the eco-documentary The Age of Stupid, welcomed the Royal Mail's initiative. "We're thrilled to have an iconic organisation like the Royal Mail sign up to 10:10," she said. "With such a huge number of staff, sites and vehicles, the company has the capacity to make significant emissions cuts as well as getting the 10:10 message out."
The campaign, which hopes to build a grassroots movement for tougher action on climate change, is backed by the Guardian. In the week since launch it has attracted 14,000 individuals, 550 companies, 150 schools and 250 other organisations such as hospitals and councils.
Gordon Brown and the entire cabinet and Tory front bench have personally signed up, as have companies such as the online supermarket Ocado, software firm Oracle and city law firm Slaughter and May, as well as celebrities including Delia Smith, Ian McEwan, and Colin Firth. Companies signing up to the campaign commit to reducing their emissions by a minimum of 3% but to attempt deeper cuts. Four major power companies have agreed to provide customers with information on whether they are hitting their 10:10 target.
In a letter to the Guardian tomorrow the NHS – Europe's largest employer and largest public sector emitter of CO2 – is urged to sign up to 10:10 by 10 NHS trusts that have already joined. They argue that cost savings from energy efficiency will be crucial as pressure rises on budgets and that staff morale could be boosted. Also today, a report concludes that the NHS will have to play a leading role in the response to climate change if it is to provide the best quality healthcare in the future.
David Nicholson, chief executive of the NHS, said: "The NHS is determined to provide the best healthcare in a sustainable way which reduces our carbon footprint."
Mail shots
• The Royal Mail handles 75,000,000 items of post every day
• Collects from 113,000 different points
• Delivers to 28,000,000 addresses
• Has 33,000 vehicles using 135,000,000 litres of diesel a year
• Has an annual road mileage equivalent to a return trip to Jupiter
• Has 12,000 retail outlets
• Has annual carbon dioxide emissions of just under 1m tonnes a year, about 0.15% of all UK emissions
• Has an annual electricity consumption that would power 112,000 homes
• Produces annual landfill waste equivalent to over 2,200 buses
• Has an annual water consumption equivalent to 28 litres for every person in the UK