Ecommerce emissions are on the rise – Amazon singled out with +18% increase

It baffles me how special interest groups and companies publishes “(non-) fact-based” information on emissions and get away with it.

It should be known by everybody today that ecommerce is far more sustainable than stationary retail (only some 43% of emissions compared to stationary retail) and as the switch takes place, ecommerce emissions will raise in total, but at the same time reduce overall emissions with some 55% (per purchase).

If Amazon has increased their overall emissions with 18% at much higher turnover increase, this is at least a drop of 55% in total emissions compared to when this turnover was placed in stationary retail
Once all the ordered 100,000 Rivian vans are in operation, the CO2 footprint per purchase will drop even further. 

Yet in advertising for their white paper on Out of Home Solutions, Doddle post the following text:
“Carriers and posts talk a lot about carbon neutrality in 10, 15, 20 years – but the sad reality is 2021 was the worst year in history for last-mile carbon emissions. Parcel volumes are at record highs, and the reductions we’ve seen in emissions-per-parcel have been massively outpaced by that growth in volume. 
We’re delivering more parcels, driving more miles, and emitting more than ever. 
And we need to rethink our approach to parcel delivery.”

IT IS NOT A “SAD REALITY”, IT IS A JOYFUL REALITY, AS THIS IS AN INDICATOR OF LESS OVERALL CO2 EMISSIONS.

It is true that last-mile emissions were higher than ever in 2021, but that is an indicator of less overall emission (per purchase). 
In the white paper Doddle then continue to “prove” how sustainable Out of Home solutions are with a study (de Maere 2018) where the emissions were calculated wrongly, a fact they are aware of.

Today one of the dumbest suggestions around public parcel lockers was published in German media. 
Postis Office suggest that the carriers should go directly from the warehouse of each online shop directly to the lockers nationwide. The result in drop rate and density would be catastrophic, and the number of vehicles required astronomical. Postis however, claims a saving of 350%, which is probably a mistake. One cannot save more than 100%, but I believe what they mean is a saving of 72%. How they get to that number is beyond my imagination, but Out of Home advocates seems to have no limitations when it comes to Trump-like propaganda / advertising.

I AM REALLY LOOKING FORWARD TO SOME SERIOUS LEGISLATION AGAINST #GREENWASHING IN THE EU