Deutsche Post says postage fee cap slows move to climate neutral service

Germany’s postal service Deutsche Post says it will invest less than planned in emissions reduction and climate action after a regulatory decision means it cannot increase postage fees, newspaper Die Welt reported. A decision by the postal service’s regulator, the Federal Network Agency (BNetzA), to prohibit an increase of Deutsche Post’s standard postage fee of 85 cents would mean the company lacks more than 100 million euros in its budget, a funding gap that according to Deutsche Post CEO Tobias Meyer, will require the mail service to reconsider investments in other areas, including climate action. “This money won’t be available for investments in the transformation of our mail delivery towards climate neutrality,” Meyer said. Investment cuts, for example, would affect the purchase of electric delivery vehicles and in buildings run by the company. In a press release, Deutsche Post said that the BNetzA decision would "massively slow down the transformation towards a climate-neutral universal postal service." The BNetzA rejected an increase of the postage fee, which had been increased in 2022, arguing that Deutsche Post currently runs its regulated mail delivery business at a profit.

In 2021 Deutsche Post said it will be investing some 7 billion euros in climate-neutral logistics up until 2030, particularly in alternative aviation fuels, the expansion of its e-vehicle fleet, and making its buildings climate-neutral. Earlier this year the company called for a mandatory labelling of the CO2 footprint sent by parcel services, designed to make "the CO2 emissions of parcels transparent to people."