Postal services cause greenhouse gas emissions, primarily through the transport of letters and parcels as well as express and courier shipments over short and long distances. Postal service providers therefore face the challenge of reorganising their transport chains to make them environmentally sustainable. European and German policymakers are setting framework conditions to support and steer this transformation process. In the "ÖkoPost" project, the Wuppertal Institute and WIK-Consult GmbH conduct a study on behalf of the German Federal Network Agency that comprehensively analyses the transition towards an ecologically sustainable postal sector. The Wuppertal Institute is a subcontractor of WIK-Consult GmbH.
The researchers set three focal points in the study: firstly, they analyse the impact of legal requirements regarding sustainability and greenhouse gas accounting standards on postal service providers and on competition in the postal market. Secondly, they examine the development of environmental awareness among customers and their preferences for sustainable postal services. And thirdly, they develop a concept for a sustainability data collection by the German Federal Network Agency, which is prescribed in the new German Postal Law Modernisation Act (Postrechtsmodernisierungsgesetz, PostModG).
Based on literature research, the scientists analyse the websites of postal service providers and online shops with regard to sustainability information provided there. Stakeholders from the postal sector and experts are involved through interviews and workshops. The thematic focus is on the effects of legal sustainability requirements on demand, cost structures, operational processes and competition as well as environmental awareness and customer needs. In addition, possible indicators for future sustainability data collection are discussed with associations and service providers. The Wuppertal Institute had two main tasks in the project: on the one hand, the analysis and evaluation of suitable standards for greenhouse gas accounting and reporting, on the other hand, the examination of customer interests with regard to environmental awareness and user preferences for sustainable postal services.