Parcel delivery companies DHL and PostNL have adjusted various green claims at the request of the ACM regulator. These are claims that give the impression that parcel delivery has no impact on the environment.
For example, PostNL wrote on its vans “Your package will be delivered sustainably”, while DHL uses terms such as “GoGreen” and “Naturally on the road”. This can mislead the consumer, because the transport of packages does indeed cause harmful emissions.
“Consumers mainly see the last kilometers of the shipment. But parcel delivery has a much greater impact on the environment than those last kilometers,” says Edwin van Houten of the Netherlands Authority for Consumers & Markets (ACM).
PostNL has now changed claims on its vans to “We increasingly drive the last part to your front door electrically or on biofuel”. All claims must be changed by mid-next year at the latest. DHL must also have changed all confusing texts by that time, according to the ACM.
PostNL and DHL are, together with DPD, the three largest parcel delivery companies in the country. DPD has already adjusted all relevant claims.
The investigation into the green promises of parcel companies is part of a larger approach to greenwashing in the transport sector. “In this sector, many green claims are made while the sector is still polluting, with a major impact on the climate,” says the ACM.
