DPD says it will spend €200m by 2025 as it shifts its delivery fleets in 225 European cities – including 25 in the UK – to low or zero carbon emission vehicles.
The courier plans to expand a new last-mile delivery model that it has already tested in central London (pictured) to introduce micro and urban depots served by electric vehicles.
In total, across 225 European cities, it will introduce 7,000 alternative vehicles, adding to an existing fleet in the UK of more than 700 electric vehicles, along with 3,600 charging points, and 80 new urban depots. That will mean that 17% of the parcels that DPD delivers will be delivered using zero or low emission vehicles by the end of 2025. DPD projects that will mean its carbon dioxide emissions fall by 89% and its pollutants by 80% compared to 2020, in the towns and cities that it is targeting.
In the UK, DPD is targeting the cities that have the largest populations, from Birmingham, Bradford and Brighton to Sheffield, Southampton and Stoke-on-Trent.
Dwain McDonald, chief executive of DPD, said: “This is a hugely significant announcement from DPDgroup and we are very proud to be playing such a key role here. We’ve led the way on EVs in the UK parcel market, first with our all-electric micro depots in London and then with the scale of our nationwide investment. We already have over 700 EVs in the UK and they are in every depot. This is the next stage of our plan, to deliver totally green in 25 of the largest towns and cities in the country, drastically reducing our emissions in the places with the highest populations.
“We are very conscious of our responsibility to the planet and its people, and we aim to be the most sustainable delivery company in the UK and Europe. We were among the first to put our hands up and acknowledge our part in climate change issues and since then we have put our hand in our pocket and started investing in the solution!
“We know from what we have done in central London that this model works, and we know that shippers and shoppers both love seeing parcels delivered green. So, we have made significant progress already. It is great now to be able to share our longer-term vision and we look forward to turning these 25 towns and cities green.”
DPD is part of the DPD group, which is owned by France’s La Poste group. It currently operates more than 10,000 vehicles from 84 sites and delivers more than 260m parcels a year.
