The logistics arm of Alibaba Group, Cainiao, has presented its ESG achievements in the Alibaba Group Environmental, Social and Governance Report 2023.
The company has built a full-chain green logistics system spanning five major logistics links across ordering, packaging, transportation, warehousing and recycling, in order to promote the achievement of carbon reduction goals and facilitate the transformation of the entire logistics system.
During the fiscal year 2023, Cainiao reduced packaging material use within the industry and among consumers through measures such as the introduction of an industry-specific packaging solution to reduce the number of boxes used.
As part of its recycling initiative, Cainiao also leveraged its Cainiao Post stations to drive packaging recycling campaigns, which included consumers leaving cartons at post stations to be reused –23.82 million cartons were recycled in this way, setting a new recycling record. It also promoted shipping in original or reused packaging, which helped achieve a reduction in packaging material use for fiscal year 2023 of more than 184,000 tons.
Cainiao also advocated for the use of electric vehicles for short-distance urban deliveries. As of March 31, 2023, 33% of its urban deliveries were carried out by electric vehicles. For last-mile logistics, Cainiao has promoted the implementation of autonomous logistics robots such as Xiaomanlv, which has delivered more than 29 million orders as of March 31.
The photovoltaic capacity of Cainiao’s solar-powered warehouses expanded from 24.9MW in 2022 to 30.0MW, a year-on-year increase of 20.5%. By integrating the use of clean energy, Cainiao achieved a reduction in carbon emissions of 21,003.2 MtCO2e in the 2023 fiscal year.
As well as reducing its own carbon footprint, Cainiao also leverages its digital technologies and logistics platform to provide full-chain low-carbon logistics solutions and digital recycling capabilities to support its ecosystem partners. In July 2022, Yili and Cainiao signed a green strategic cooperation agreement to jointly establish a green recycling chain for used packaging which spans the entire process, including consumer engagement, goods transfer and clearance, recycling, returns, re-production and predictive modeling.
Read more key sustainability updates from the parcel and postal technology industry, here.
