Fewer CO2 emissions driving with HVO100
From April 2024, PostNL will add approximately 4 million litres of HVO100 to the European diesel network annually. This is a great step forwards in achieving more sustainable and cleaner road transport, as this releases up to 12 kilotons less CO2 into the environment annually. That is comparable to 5,000 petrol cars driving around for a year. This enables us to make a significant contribution to reducing the emissions of the transport sector.
HVO100 in the European network
We are already using HVO100 in the Netherlands, but now we want to take a step forward on an international scale. That’s why we’ve set a new standard for the market: we purchase as much biofuel as is needed annually for all our international road transport in Europe. That is then added to the European diesel network and reduces just as many emissions as when our trucks were able to run directly on HVO100. It is a big step that we are proud of. Together with our customers, last-mile partners and the entire logistics sector, we want to make European road transport more sustainable as a whole. With this initiative, we are taking the lead.
What is HVO100?
Our plans for the future
As a leading e-commerce player, we feel an enormous responsibility to contribute to a sustainable society. Every day, we work to improve our environmental impact throughout the delivery chain, for example by switching to an electric vehicle fleet and working with the market on solutions that contribute to a circular economy. PostNL has further refined its climate strategy and set a more ambitious target to reduce CO2 emissions with the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). By 2040, we want to have virtually no impact on the climate, 10 years earlier than the Climate Agreement calls for. Scaling up sustainable fuel is another important step towards achieving these goals.
Frequently asked questions HVO100
HVO100 stands for 100% Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil and is a renewable fuel for diesel engines. It is made from vegetable oils, residual waste and other organic matter. HVO100 emits 90% less CO2 than regular diesel because it uses renewable raw materials.
You can use HVO100 in your diesel car.
At PostNL, we also pay attention to where our biofuels come from. For our HVO100, no trees are cut down and no raw materials are used that could be used for consumption instead. Only residual waste materials are used to produce it.
Ideally, we would like to, but HVO100 is not yet available everywhere in Europe and certainly not with the strict requirements that PostNL imposes on this fuel. PostNL has high standards for HVO100: it must be made exclusively from waste materials to prevent its production from contributing to food shortages and deforestation. Other types of HVO100 are available, they are made from raw materials, which could also be used for food, and even from palm oil. Palm oil is often linked to the destruction of rainforest. That is why have looked for alternative raw materials for our fuel.
Let’s use green energy as an example. When you take out a contract for green electricity, your energy supplier will purchase the amount of energy you use as green electricity. This energy is then added to the entire network, meaning that the power that comes out of your socket is not actually 100% green, but grey (a mix from the total network). After all, there is only one cable running to your socket. From an administrative point of view, however, your energy supplier has purchased the required amount of green electricity. Your energy supplier receives Guarantees of Origin (GOs) in return. These certificates prove that your green electricity has been purchased. By separating the administrative process from physically supplying the power to you, the energy sector has greatly accelerated the sustainable transition and is allowed to sell it to you as green energy.
This principle also applies to our HVO100 solution: we purchase the required number of litres of HVO100 for our international transport provision. This HVO100 is added to the total diesel network and sold as diesel at filling stations. We receive certificates as proof of purchase for this HVO100. Only we may attribute this HVO100 to us, no one else can attribute the same certified purchase to themselves. In this way, we avoid double counting and achieve the same CO2 reduction as if we had been able to drive with HVO100 in our tanks.
We have chosen this method because we cannot always refuel with HVO100 due to the limited availability and quality we require along our routes in Europe.
We are always looking for ways to become more sustainable in the most efficient way possible. Sometimes you have to look for solutions outside your own operations due to physical limitations; the HVO100 that meets our requirements cannot be refuelled everywhere in pure form. We hope that this will accelerate the transition for the entire transport and logistics sector.
At the moment, HVO100 is the best solution for the transport world to achieve a drastic and direct reduction in CO2 emissions. HVO100 complies with the EU diesel standard EN15940 and produces up to 90% less greenhouse gas emissions compared to fossil diesel. We are currently in a transition phase, in which long-term solutions such as electric and hydrogen vehicles are not yet scalable for long-haul freight transport. HVO100 is currently the best transport option for current road freight transport and contributes towards making long-distance transport more sustainable.
The entire road transport sector benefits because PostNL and its partners have developed a way to deploy HVO100 even though it cannot be refuelled directly along the transport routes. We are the first to add HVO100 to the international diesel network so that everyone can now use it. We hope that our fellow freight carriers will follow our example to make road transport more sustainable. We also hope that HVO100 will soon become available everywhere for direct refuelling.
Purchasing 4 million litres of HVO100 will save 12 kilotons of CO2, which is 6.6% of PostNL’s total annual CO2 emissions. In more concrete terms, this is comparable to the emissions of almost 5,000 petrol cars driving around for a year.
An independent auditor approves our process. In our annual report for 2024, you will soon see our location-based emissions, which are the physical CO2 emissions caused by our transport provision, as well as our market-based emissions, which are the emissions of the HVO100 that we have purchased administratively.
HVO100 can be mixed with diesel and can be used in any diesel vehicle without any problems. Unlike other biofuels, the composition of HVO100 is the same as that of diesel. HVO100 is free of the impurities that the first generation of biodiesel suffered from. This means that HVO100 can be used in any fossil diesel blend from 1% to 100% without negatively affecting engine performance or maintenance cycles. After all, the greatest assets of road transport companies are their trucks. It is important to run these trucks on fuels that support healthy engine performance. This also makes HVO100 a more sustainable solution.
We mix HVO100 with the regular diesel distributed within the European network.
Unfortunately, you cannot see. At the pump, consumers refuel with the cleaner fuel, that is the mix of diesel and HVO100. They do not pay extra for it. We have taken care of this ‘bill’.
For international transport, there are fewer opportunities to significantly reduce CO2 emissions. This is because the range of electric transport is not yet good enough and hydrogen trucks are not yet available. That is why we offset the remaining emissions of Dutch shipments to European destinations with Gold Standard certificates.
Gold Standard is a quality mark set up by organisations including the WWF for sustainable development projects that aim to reduce CO2 emissions. Organisations in the Netherlands can buy credits produced by such projects. This means they invest in the project and compensate for their own CO2 emissions. The non-profit Gold Standard Foundation awards and manages the quality mark.
This means that the CO2 of all your shipments from the Netherlands to European destinations is offset. We do this in addition to our CO2 reduction measures.
By choosing PostNL, you can be sure that you are contributing to the growth of sustainable transport throughout Europe. After all, we are the first to add HVO100 to the diesel network. The more people send with PostNL, the more sustainable the diesel mix you will refuel with and the sooner HVO100 will be available for refuelling everywhere.
- The HVO100 that we use avoids raw materials that could also be used for consumption so that no additional agricultural land needs to be created or sacrificed for food production. Guaranteeing high-quality and sustainable raw materials is of crucial importance to us. (Annex IX A-B except for POME)
- We invest 100% of our diesel consumption in HVO100 for international road transport to European destinations.
We are the first to invest 100% of our diesel consumption in HVO100 for international road transport to European destinations. We are constantly looking for the best possible solutions to improve our sustainability. We do so by using electric vehicles and trains where possible as well as using HVO100 instead of regular diesel and continuously optimising our routes. Adding HVO100 to the diesel network is a further sustainability measure.
In addition, we are working with customers and partners on finding more sustainable packaging, removing air from packaging and making our process resources, such as reusable pallet boxes, more sustainable.
In 2023, we conducted research into methods to make international long-distance road transport significantly more sustainable. This turned out to be a complex task, as electric trucks currently have too limited a range for effective use. Hydrogen trucks are not yet available and HVO100 is not available everywhere either. This makes it impossible for us to refuel with HVO100 along most of our routes.
By 2030 at the latest, PostNL aims to reduce 90% of its own CO2 emissions (scope 1 and 2) and 45% of scope 1, 2 and 3 CO2 emissions. For the remaining emissions, mainly in scope 3, we anticipate needing an additional 10 years. This means we will reach net zero by 2040 according to the SBTi standards, meaning that we will still have a maximum of 10% of our CO2 emissions left over that we will compensate.
Daarom kiest PostNL voor hernieuwbare brandstof
Het is de ambitie van PostNL om vanaf 2030 alle brieven en pakketten in de laatste kilometers uitstootvrij te bezorgen. Een belangrijke stap hierin is het verduurzamen van ons wagenpark. Daarom investeren we flink in elektrische voertuigen zoals elektrische fietsen, scooters en bestelbussen. Hiermee kunnen we volledig uitstootvrij rijden. Helaas is dat nog niet mogelijk voor al ons zwaar transport. Maar wanneer de markt zover is, willen we in de toekomst de weg op met elektrische vrachtwagens.
In de tussentijd vervangen we voor een zo groot mogelijk deel van onze bestelbussen en vrachtwagens de benzine en diesel door schonere brandstoffen, zoals biogas (Biological Liquefied Natural Gas, ofwel vloeibaar gemaakt aardgas) en HVO100 (Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil). Met deze hernieuwbare brandstoffen stoten we tot wel 90% minder CO2 uit en rijden we fossielvrij. In 2021 hebben we al 35% hernieuwbare brandstof getankt (8% in 2020).
Why PostNL is opting for renewable fuels
PostNL aims to achieve last-mile emission-free delivery of all letters and parcels by 2030. A key step towards that goal is to make our fleet more sustainable, which is why we’re investing heavily in electric vehicles such as electric bikes, scooters and vans, facilitating emission-free deliveries. Unfortunately, we’ve not quite reached the same stage for all the heavy trucks we also need. That said, we’re looking forward to electric trucks hitting the road when the market allows.
Until then, we’re replacing petrol and diesel with cleaner fuels for as many of our vans and trucks as possible. Biological liquefied natural gas and hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO100) can help us cut our carbon emissions by up to 90% and go fossil-free. With these renewable fuels, we emit up to 90% less CO2 and drive fossil-free. In 2021, we already tanked 35% renewable fuel (8% in 2020).
On track to 100% emission-free delivery
At the end of the day, we want to be fully emission-free. But as long as we can’t, renewable fuels are a great interim solution. We use renewable fuels derived from organic matter, such as plant-based oils and waste fats, including frying fats used by McDonald’s.
Of course, we keep a beady eye on the production processes for these new fuels and ensure that our suppliers comply with all requirements imposed by the Dutch Emissions Authority. We also insist on our HVO100 being free of palm oil and on no rainforests being cut down for our fuel consumption. This is how we’re able to cut our carbon emissions in the short term while transitioning to a fully emission-free delivery network (aside from CO2, no more particulate matter or nitrogen oxide either). In fact, we sometimes refer to these renewable fuels as transition fuels.