23-03-2023

Brussels, 23 March 2023 – Following the endorsement of the CEO Board of the Kahala Posts Group (KPG) in 2022, a further five postal operators have joined a pilot of the IPC Sustainability Measurement and Management (SMMS) Programme as of January 2023. The new entrants to the SMMS include the postal administrations of Canada, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea and Thailand.
As part of the agreed pilot programme, the five new members will report on two of the seven Focus Areas within the SMMS, which were developed in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):

Climate Change 
Resource Efficiency 

Each new participating post will be assessed through both the qualitative (Sustainability Management Proficiency) and quantitative elements (Sustainability Performance Indicators) of the SMMS programme. The first dataset to be collected will be for 2022 and will be reported in 2023. 

The IPC Sustainability Measurement and Management System (SMMS) was launched in 2019 to address the sustainability objectives of the postal sector for the next ten years, aligned with the UN SDGs. It provides a common sustainability measurement and reporting structure that enables participants to share their sustainability management strategies, performance, and achievements.

The SMMS expands on the 2009-2019 Environmental Measurement and Monitoring System (EMMS), a global initiative launched in 2008 in response to stakeholder and postal CEO requests for the postal sector to minimise its carbon footprint and improve its carbon management. The SMMS broadens the scope of the programme to the seven sustainability focus areas most relevant for the postal sector: Health and safety; Learning and development; Resource efficiency; Climate change; Air quality; Circular economy and Sustainable procurement.

From 2023 the programme consists of 28 participants from five continents – Africa, Asia, Europe, Oceania and America. These include: An Post (Ireland), Australia Post (Australia), Austrian Post (Austria), bpost (Belgium), Canada Post (Canada), Correos (Spain), CTT Portugal Post (Portugal), Deutsche Post DHL Group (Germany), Hongkong Post (Hong Kong), Hrvatska Posta (Croatia), Japan Post (Japan), Korea Post (Korea), Le Groupe La Poste (France), New Zealand Post Group (New Zealand), Omniva (Estonia), Pos Malaysia (Malaysia), POST Luxembourg (Luxembourg), Poste Italiane (Italy), Posten Norge (Norway), Posti (Finland), PostNL (The Netherlands), PostNord (Denmark & Sweden), Royal Mail Group Plc (United Kingdom), South African Post Office (South Africa), Swiss Post (Switzerland), Thailand Post (Thailand), United States Postal Service (United States).

In 2022 the SMMS group collectively reported 34% of renewable electricity in buildings and 24% of alternative vehicles in their fleet. The participating posts also reported a 34% reduction in Scope 1 and 2 emissions compared to a 2008 baseline. Since 2008, the group’s cumulative reduction in emissions now equals 25.7m tonnes CO2.


About International Post Corporation

International Post Corporation (IPC) is the leading service provider of the global postal industry that provides leadership by driving service quality, interoperability, and business-critical intelligence to support posts in defending existing business and expanding into new growth areas. It is a cooperative association of 26 member postal operators in Asia Pacific, Europe and North America. IPC’s solutions and services are used by over 190 posts worldwide. Since 1989 IPC has set standards for upgrading quality and service performance and developed technological solutions that help members enhance service for international letters, packets and parcels. IPC engages in industry research, creates business-critical intelligence, provides a range of platforms and programmes for member post CEOs and senior management to exchange best practices and discuss strategy. IPC also manages the system for incentive-based payments between postal operators. 

About Kahala Posts Group
KPG is an international alliance of the postal administrations of Australia, Canada, China, France, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Spain, Thailand, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Launched in 2002 by six major postal administrations, KPG Posts, through their collaboration, seek to promote customer choice and improve service options for postal express and package services particularly by raising service performance of their package services, addressing current and future needs of customers, and leveraging collective action and joint capabilities to expand business.
Now with eleven members and plans for future growth, KPG reaches 343.8 million in-network delivery points linked through 16 billion origin/destination pairs. Beyond the various pick-up options of each KPG operator, customers can access services through the 183,700 retail locations of the network to reach a vast and reliable network supported by local knowledge, service excellence and leadership.