Joint statement on the environment

Canada Post and its bargaining agents recognize that the postal service built to serve all Canadians also has a considerable environmental impact. Together, they acknowledge a shared interest and responsibility to reduce Canada Post’s environmental footprint. In April 2019, Canada Post, the Association of Postal Officials of Canada, the Canadian Postmasters and Assistants Association, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, and the Union of Postal Communications Employees formally initiated a collaborative effort focused on the environment. 

Through this collaboration we commit to the following purpose, principles and initial actions.

Purpose

Canada Post and its bargaining agents will collaborate to reduce Canada Post’s environmental footprint and strive for leadership in key areas, with an initial focus on Canada Post’s operations and top environmental impacts.

Principles

The partners are pleased to work together on their shared environmental interests in line with the following guiding principles:

• Long-term commitment: This collaboration is a forward-looking, sustained and long-term undertaking, designed to inform and support the implementation of the Canada Post environmental strategy developed by the parties.
• Good faith: The partners work together in good faith to improve environmental outcomes for Canada Post, its employees, the public and customers.
• Meaningful participation: The partners commit to meaningful and consistent participation in this collaboration by collectively determining and implementing the principles and structures for this collaboration.
• Openness and transparency: The partners commit to communicate and share information in an open and transparent manner to facilitate knowledge sharing and enable equal participation.
• Well-defined scope: A clear purpose, mandate and priorities will guide the collaborative undertaking.
• Relevance and nimbleness: The collaboration will incorporate mechanisms to remain nimble, adaptable and relevant as the external environment changes and organizational objectives evolve. 

Initial actions

The next steps in the collaboration include:

• Focusing initially on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, waste and single-use disposable plastics from Canada Post operations.

• Canada Post and its bargaining agents will jointly publish agreed upon ambitious targets for 2020-2030 and an accompanying 2020-2022 action plan in early 2020.

• Exploring all appropriate existing and emerging funding opportunities to support the reduction of Canada Post’s environmental footprint.
• Participating in ongoing bilateral and group engagements to share progress toward our commitments.
• Working together with bargaining agents to develop methods of engaging all employees on local opportunities to reduce waste, emissions and energy.  
• Identifying a process and timelines to confirm priority actions, roles and resources, and then implementing joint environmental initiatives supported by evidence and data.
• Identifying external partnerships to strengthen our internal knowledge and accelerate progress.

The partners appreciate the importance of collaborating to reduce Canada Post’s impact on the environment and look forward to working together on this shared initiative.