Cost of Convenience

Global e-commerce is expected to reach US $6.3 trillion in 2023, and continue growing to over US 8.1 trillion in 2026.3 Millions of purchases mean millions of parcels. And that means millions of deliveries – millions of vehicles clogging up streets, our lungs and the environment. The damage these fossil fuel-powered fleets are doing to our health and climate is only just beginning to be understood.

The current sustainability commitments of five of the largest delivery companies – Amazon Logistics, DHL eCommerce Solutions, UPS, FedEx, Geopost – are insufficient to reach zero emission deliveries quickly. By comparison, the company Flipkart and its delivery company eKart has committed to a 100% zero emission fleet target by 2030 as part of EV100 – an initiative that works with companies to transition their vehicles – but they need to still map out and implement this commitment.

Commitments with 2040 and 2050 timelines are too late to avoid health and climate impacts. “Net-zero emissions” targets allow companies to offset emissions; however this cannot replace needed emissions reductions and fossil fuel phase-outs. A “zero emissions” target is the most ambitious, meaning companies must eliminate all greenhouse gas emissions.

We have built upon our July 2022 report, “Revealing the Secret Emissions of E-Commerce” with further projections about the negative consequences we can expect by 2030 if Amazon and other companies don’t make commitments to be making 100% zero emission deliveries by 2030.