The Postal Service is reducing greenhouse gas emissions and achieving most other federal sustainability goals, according to new data.
USPS has several goals under the Sustainability and Energy Scorecard, an Office of Management and Budget initiative that directs agencies to publicly report their progress in becoming more environmentally responsible.
The goals include reducing facility energy, water and vehicle petroleum usage between 20 percent and 30 percent within the next five years and cutting several types of greenhouse gas emissions 20 percent by 2020.
The Postal Service is on track or ahead of schedule in each area, except for the petroleum usage goal.
“We’re proud that we’re making progress,” said Chief Sustainability Officer Tom Day. “However, reducing overall petroleum consumption continues to be a challenge because the total number of delivery points we must travel to serve our customers continues to grow each year.”
USPS delivered to 153.9 million points in 2014, up about 1 million points from a year earlier.
The aging postal delivery fleet, which is slated for replacement, also contributes to fuel inefficiency.
The Postal Service, a self-supporting organization, isn’t required to meet the federal targets. However, USPS voluntarily sets goals and adopts policies to meet the requirements.