TNT recognized as climate care champion

Singapore, 27 February 2009 – TNT, a leading provider of global express services, has won Lufthansa Cargo’s first-ever innovation prize, the “Cargo Climate Care Award“. The award was presented to TNT Express Asia at a gala presentation ceremony in Frankfurt, Germany last night.

Onno Boots, regional managing director of TNT Southeast Asia, said, “As a global business, TNT strives to improve the social and environmental impact we have on communities around the world. We’re the largest freight service provider in Europe and a leader in Southeast Asia and China. Innovating to improve the environmental balance of airfreight traffic is therefore very much in our interest.”

The award went to TNT for its climate-friendly practices. These include the optimisation of its operational processes to drastically reduce CO2 emissions and the introduction of climate-friendly activities within the company to encourage all 161,500 employees worldwide to do the same in their private lives.

These actions form part of TNT’s global initiative, “Planet Me”, launched in August 2007. In Asia, activities included TNT’s first zero-emissions test outside of Europe, whereby TNT began a trial of two battery-electric delivery vans in the city of Wuhan, China, in partnership with China’s largest automaker and manufacturer of electric vehicles. In the Philippines, ‘Planet Me’ initiatives began with a tree planting activity in November 2007 when 500 saplings of hardwood varieties were planted at the ERDB’s Makiling reforestation site.

“Very often, people question the impact that one person can make when it comes to protecting our environment. What is unique about TNT’s approach to this issue is that there is an infrastructure in place within the entire organisation to support the cause and allow every employee, partner, customer and supplier to make a difference in their own way, ” added Boots.

This is not TNT’s first achievement in the area of environmental care. In 2008, TNT confirmed its leadership in the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes (DJSI) when it achieved the highest score of all companies included in the DJSI for the second year in a row. The highest score was attained in each of the three dimensions – economic, environmental and social – that make up the index.