An Post’s successful sustainability programme is now inspiring other businesses in the group to follow its lead. The company has retained the ISO 50001 Energy Management Standard for the second successive year using a framework of annual energy reviews, a Planned Preventative Maintenance (PPM) Programme, implementing site audits and an internal communications plan alongside trained and motivated staff.
An Post originally adopted the standard in 2013 to help it understand its energy use across its diverse building stock, much of which is in use 24 hours a day. ISO 50001 offered a structure within which An Post could benchmark itself against other companies and then seek to improve its energy performance and ultimately comply with a government mandated 33% reduction in energy use by 2020.
The application of the standard has resulted in a definite return on investment: An Post’s sustainability initiatives are now self-funded from energy savings, while the company has reduced energy use by 9% in 2014 and 7% so far during 2015. Subsidiaries across the An Post group, including diverse businesses such as insurance and global distribution, are now also examining accreditation to ISO 50001 standard.
However, the next challenge is how to sustain this progress.
ISO 50001 is modelled on making incremental improvements across the business to generate continual energy savings. So An Post has enlisted its sustainability team to examine its energy data in more detail and subsequently develop staff training to elicit even more savings.