Elaine, could you discuss the journey DPD UK has embarked on towards sustainability, particularly with your significant investment in electric delivery vans and biofuel such as HVO (hydrotreated vegetable oil) for your HGV fleet and in generating power through solar panels?
A company of our size clearly has an impact on the environment, and we don't want to shy away from that fact. We believe that not only do we have an obligation to be more environmentally conscious, but we can be leaders in it. Consequently, our parent company Geopost submitted an ambitious target to the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) to be net zero by 2040, which applies to us, too. This has been validated, making us one of the first parcel carriers in the UK to have such accreditation.
The biggest impact we can make is by electrifying our delivery fleet. In 2020 we only had around 800 electric vehicles (EVs). Now we've got over 3,600, and we aim to hit 4,000 this year. There are currently about 55,000 electric vans on the roads in the UK – this means DPD operate around 6.5% of all of the electric vans on British roads. We're incredibly proud of this stat.
On top of that, 95% of all of our HGVs are now powered by hydrogenated vegetable oil (HVO), a diesel replacement which reduces CO2e by up to 90%, which I'm sure you can imagine makes a huge impact at our scale. We've also invested over £2 million to install more than 18,500 solar panels across 21 of our sites, and we even provide excess energy generated this way back to the national grid.
Finally, one of our most exciting developments in the past 18 months has been rolling out robot deliveries. We ran a trial in Milton Keynes to see if we could get more vans off the road by having robots deliver parcels autonomously, and it's been such a huge success that we're rolling it out to 10 more locations across the country.
In your role as CEO of DPD UK, what strategies do you employ to align the company's rapid growth with the pursuit of an environmentally sustainable delivery network, especially considering the additional costs associated with 'green' technologies?
When it comes to transforming a company to going green, our view is that either we invest to lead the way now or we're forced to play catch-up years later. The climate crisis won't wait.
For many years we've had our 1-2-3 Strategy: to deliver the best service money can buy, to use the best technology available, and to recruit, retain, and develop the most customer-centric people in the industry. In 2020, we added a fourth pillar: to be the UK's leader in sustainable delivery. We made this crucial change to put sustainability at the heart
of everything we do.
An example of this is our carbon budget. A big milestone to being net zero by 2040 is seeing a 43% reduction in emissions by 2030. To ensure the company leadership is always considering this we introduced our carbon budget in 2023 – that is, how much CO2 we can allow ourselves to emit. Our carbon budget is tracked monthly and reported at every board meeting. All 10 members of our Senior Leadership Team are targeted to find carbon savings every year.
You are on track to have a 100% EV final mile collection and delivery fleet by 2030; this would be a remarkable achievement given the scale of DPD's operation; assuming you reach your target, what will this mean to you personally as a leader who has, forgive the pun, 'driven' the green agenda at DPD?
I'm incredibly proud of all that we've accomplished in electrifying our fleet and being able to see 100% of our final mile collection and delivery go electric would be a huge victory, not just for us, but for the environment. I want DPD to be a leader in sustainability and for us to forge the way in building a more green future. This isn't just my achievement, though – I want to give credit to all of our teams for being able to make this happen.
With several ongoing innovations focused on sustainability, I understand you have also developed an incubator programme to help foster and create new green technologies and initiatives. Could you share how this initiative functions and highlight any innovative projects that have emerged from the programme?
Absolutely. It's called the 'EcoLaunchpad' programme, where we reach out to experts in sustainability, technology, and innovation to develop and test new ideas that can help us further reduce our carbon footprint. Our goal was to invite tech startups to present their innovations and show how they could help DPD become more sustainable. We specifically searched for companies specialising in the decarbonisation of buildings, transport, and delivery. We also had a wildcard category where we invited companies to surprise us with technology and robotics that could challenge our thinking in this space and facilitate a digital transformation.
We've had an overwhelming response since June – 580 applications, narrowed down to a shortlist of 20 companies. We chose five winners who will take part in a ten-week immersive programme to validate their solutions, accessing DPD's resources, expertise, and mentoring. The technologies being trialled range from faster EV charging to deploying robots in our warehouses.
This initiative led to us recently winning the 'Supply Chain Innovation' award at the recent Retail Technology Innovation Hub (RTIH) awards.
Sustainability is clearly integral to DPD's ethos. How have you fostered a company culture that embraces progressive initiatives and supports this vision so that it is a success?
We are passionate about making DPD a happy, inclusive high-performance environment where our people can flourish. Central to DPD's social policy is its commitment to be a workplace where everyone feels safe, equal, included, and accepted.
Employers who respect the unique needs and potential of their teams outpace their competitors, earning deeper trust and more commitment from their people. There are several ways that we promote these principles, such as our highly-visual 'This is Us' book, about to enter its fifth edition, which details our values. We share this with all of our people.
We also appointed volunteer Energy Champions at all sites to promote sustainability awareness and to identify CO2 savings opportunities, from switching off lights to turning the heating down a degree.
Beyond your green vision and as a leader, how are you fostering an open, honest, and inclusive company culture at DPD UK? Why do you believe this is essential for the company's success?
Inclusivity is really important to us, and those aren't just words. We want to have the best people possible at DPD, and a diverse workforce is crucial to that. One initiative we're all really proud of is our 'Inspire' programme. This is where we've invested over £320,000 in hiring young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). When these incredible young people turn 25, government funding simply stops outright, making it hard for them to support themselves. Because of this less than 5% of people with learning disabilities find themselves in full-time employment. These are bright, enthusiastic people who just want to get on with their lives without barriers being put in their way, and so we were keen to welcome them to the DPD family.
Mental health has entered the public consciousness over the last few years, and DPD offers support to your employees through the Mental Health Hub. How does this contribute to creating a supportive work environment and what feedback have you received from employees about this initiative?
In 2021 we launched our 'Healthy Minds' campaign, investing £30,000 to train volunteers to become Mental Health First Aiders, focused on supporting frontline employees, such as drivers and warehouse operatives. We also delivered mandatory Mental Health Awareness training to our top 1,500 managers and produce weekly bulletins for all our people on topics such as overcoming loneliness, menopause awareness, and coping with bereavement.
Given the scale of innovation ongoing at DPD, as we have already touched on, are there further innovations that will make for a better experience for DPD customers?
The EcoLaunchpad I spoke about before is a gateway to some incredible innovations that are going to revolutionise how we work. I mentioned earlier that we have a 1-2-3-4 Strategy: the second of these pillars is to use the best technology available. The innovations we're pioneering are going to be vital in supporting our transition to being net zero by 2040.
Finally, we're conscious that customers with mobility issues might struggle to get to the door quickly when a delivery arrives. Because of that, we've introduced a new 'More Time Needed' feature to our app, which notifies our drivers that they should dedicate extra time to waiting for a customer to receive their parcel.
All of these things go together to create the best possible experience for our customers
As part of DPD's growth strategy, DPD recently acquired CitySprint and Absolutely. Although a smaller part of DPD's operations, how will this acquisition contribute to the company's overall strategy and what operational benefits will it bring?
As part of our parent group Geopost, we have a powerful combination of services to support customers throughout the year. For example, CitySprint supported DPD throughout Peak, our busiest time of the year, with additional collection resources. Having this level of expertise within our group means we can react quickly to changing circumstances and provide our customers with the best possible delivery service, 52 weeks of the year.
Looking ahead, how will your vision evolve for DPD UK's future in terms of both the company culture and its people, environmental sustainability, and not forgetting its customers?
The thing that makes us proud of our achievements is how well we adapt to a changing world. As the realities of climate change become more known, we've been bold in leading the transformation that the private sector needs to see. We're going to continue to evolve as technology advances and gives us the ability to be more sustainable, whether it's deploying our robots to more of our depots, continuing to electrify our fleet, or even supporting our people in installing EV charging ports at their own homes.
On top of that, we also want DPD to be the most inclusive place to work in the UK, and once again we're proud to have led the way here. We want all of Team DPD to feel able to bring their authentic selves to work, and our inclusivity victories have led to us creating a 16-page booklet where we share our strategies on how to create a diverse workplace with other businesses. We feel we're creating a model for what diversity truly looks like in a modern company.
DPD’s Plans To Become The UK’s Most Sustainable Delivery Company
DPD Halts UK-EU Parcel Shipments Due To Customs Changes
Published by: www.ceotodaymagazine.com – June 7th, 2024
