A great green air conference with a host of questions focused on clean air in logistics as DPD hosted a free, virtual panel discussion exploring the challenges of clean air in cities on Thursday 25th February.
The event was in association with Green TV, the panel discussion was hosted by BBC Radio 5 Live's Rachel Burden and included: Olly Craughan, Head of CSR, DPD who spoke DPD ‘Our Green Journey’. Moving the DPD Breath Easy into five more cities.
Dr Francis Pope, Professor of Atmospheric Science, University of Birmingham took a lens on susceptibility to pollution.
Tom Byrne, Head of Sustainability, ASOS talked consolidating delivery of multiple orders made each day.
Keynotes from Oliver Lord, Head of Policy & Campaigns, Environmental Defence Fund, ‘Switching to cycle freight is essential’. and Geraint Davies MP, Chair of APPG - Air Pollution. ‘latest estimate of deaths related to air pollution exceeds sixty thousand people a year.’
Dwain McDonald, DPD's CEO commented,
At DPD, we're working hard to become the greenest delivery company on the planet. We've taken some giant steps already in terms of our investment in green vehicles, our work developing smarter urban delivery systems and in developing more sustainable solutions for our energy use, packaging, and waste. Our hope is that this event will help inform the wider debate, forge new working relationships and hopefully help drive further innovation that can move us all closer to solving the challenges of creating cleaner cities.
Geraint Davies MP, Chair, APPG on Air Pollution
Latest estimate of deaths related to air pollution exceeds sixty thousand a year.
DPD Keynote - Olly Craughan, Head of CSR, DPD ‘Our green journey.’
‘To deliver 100 million parcels on EV zero emission by 2025’
We have an industry-leading strategy at DPD for improving air quality. DPD Project Breathe has been about monitoring air quality in London. We have focused our monitoring on locations close to schools. The data is collected at street level by a small device similar to an internet router that simply needs a power source to work. The devices collect data every 12 seconds.
Five more cities. DPD project breathe to be expanded from London to 5 more UK cities. Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester, Glasgow, and Cardiff. Collecting ‘Project breathe’ data, approx. 1.5 million readings a day to be achieved of PM2.5 awareness to analyse the hot-spots.
Our vision: 25 25 25. 25% volume of parcels delivered in 25 cities to 25% reduction of pollution with green vision. The numbers, 2019 1.3m parcels delivered on EV vehicles, 2020 11.2m and target for 2025 100 million parcels delivered zero emission
Tom Byrne, Head of Sustainability, ASOS
‘Consolidating deliveries of multiple orders made on the same day’
We are an online retailer for fashion-loving 20-somethings. For us, the majority of pollution comes from the delivery and return of goods to our consumers. Consolidating deliveries of multiple orders on the same day. Some clients will make two or three orders a day, we can recognise this at booking, consolidate the orders and make one delivery for that day. Using a fit assistant to get size correct is another route to bring down returns.
Oliver Lord, (former GLA), Head of Policy and Campaigns at EDF Environmental Defence Fund Europe.
‘Switching to cycle freight is essential.’
Switching to cycle freight is essential. We were part of the ‘Breathe London’ campaign to increase air monitoring devices to monitor air quality. The burden of air pollution is not equal. NOx is a diesel issue and can make up a lot of pollution. We are seeing a growth in van traffic, we need to see diesel-free cities. We need to see more electric vans and more priority for these electric vehicles. Switching to cycle freight is essential.
Dr Francis Pope, Professor of Atmospheric Science, University of Birmingham
Defining vulnerability to air pollution, a lens of exposure, susceptibility, and adaptive capacity. Fixed sites versus mobile monitoring of air to find the hot-spots.
Dr Francis showcased Delhi as the most polluted city in the world with an art-science showcase of the intensity of pollution in Delhi.
