TORONTO, April 21, 2009 – Federal Express Canada Ltd. (“FedEx Express Canada”), a subsidiary of FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX), will celebrate Earth Day by working with PITCH-IN CANADA and Tree Canada to support programs that will give back to communities across the country and reduce the effects of global warming. These programs complement FedEx Corp.’s global initiatives to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and improve fuel efficiencies of its vehicles and aircraft.
“At FedEx, we see things from a bird’s-eye view, which gives us insight into the impact we have on the world,” said Pina Starnino, vice president, Operations at FedEx Express Canada. “But we also look out from our front steps and know that the work we do has a significant impact on our communities, benefits the environment and provides a higher quality of life for all Canadians.”
FedEx Express Canada works with PITCH-IN CANADA and Tree Canada to support their community-based environmental projects. More than 3.5 million volunteers participate in almost 20,000 PITCH-IN CANADA projects each year, making it Canada’s largest program to improve communities and the environment. For the past two years, FedEx Express Canada has held a community cleanup drive in support of PITCH-IN CANADA, which has grown to include hundreds of FedEx Express Canada employees from across Canada.
This year, FedEx Express Canada employees will celebrate Earth Day by participating in the 20-Minute Makeover during PITCH-IN CANADA Week from April 20 to 26. Close to 300 FedEx Express Canada employees are expected to join from 19 communities across the country. For more information about PITCH-IN CANADA and its programs, please visit www.pitch-in.ca.
In addition, FedEx Express Canada helped Tree Canada plant 6,250 trees across the country in support of its natural emergency relief and reforestation projects. Examples include Kelowna, British Columbia lands burned by the 2003 wildfires, and the Sudbury, Ontario Land Reclamation Project.
FedEx Express Canada also sponsored urban tree planting events organized by Tree Canada in eight Canadian cities, which involved more than 100 FedEx Express Canada employees and volunteers. And, in the coming months, FedEx Express Canada will announce plans around a school greening program with Tree Canada. For more information about Tree Canada and its programs, please visit www.treecanada.ca.
“Earth Day is a powerful reminder that action needs to be taken by individuals and organizations. But we also know that to make long-lasting improvements we need to look beyond tomorrow, and FedEx Corp., as a global enterprise, has set ambitious long-term goals to improve the fuel efficiency and reduce carbon dioxide emissions of our aircraft and vehicles,” Starnino said. “We know these goals will reduce our carbon footprint, and help us do our part for the environment.”
The new goals are outlined in the FedEx 2008 Global Citizenship Report, which can be found at http://csr.fedex.com.
FedEx Corp. plans to reduce carbon dioxide emissions per available tonne-mile from its FedEx Express aircraft fleet by 20 percent and improve the fuel efficiency of its FedEx Express vehicle fleet by 20 percent by 2020. To achieve its fuel efficiency goals, FedEx has invested in more fuel-efficient vehicles and aircraft. Since 2005, FedEx has reduced aircraft carbon dioxide emissions by 3.7 percent per available tonne-mile and improved FedEx Express vehicle fuel efficiency by 13.7 percent, reducing vehicle carbon emissions by more than 450 million kilograms.
FedEx operates more than 170 hybrid electric trucks around the globe and has the largest fleet of commercial hybrid electric trucks in North America. The FedEx E700 hybrid electric trucks, the most common hybrid in the FedEx fleet, improve fuel economy by 42 percent, reduce greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 25 percent and cut particulate pollution by 96 percent compared with conventional vehicles.
FedEx Express has worked to optimize its delivery routes to ensure that the most efficiently-sized vehicle is used on each route. As a result, more than one-fourth of the FedEx Express fleet has been converted to smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles, saving more than 200 million litres of fuel in the past three years.
FedEx is also upgrading its aircraft fleet, replacing narrow-body Boeing 727 aircraft with Boeing 757 planes that lessen the environmental impact — reducing fuel consumption up to 36 percent while providing 20 percent more payload capacity. A number of initiatives such as aircraft replacements and aircraft operations and flight planning improvements contribute to reductions in carbon and fuel emissions and reductions in fuel used.
About FedEx Express Canada
Federal Express Canada Ltd. is a global logistics and transportation company offering domestic and international shipping and electronic commerce solutions. The company uses advanced package status tracking systems, automated customs clearance services and a dedicated air and ground transportation network to serve Canadian and global markets. FedEx Express Canada employs approximately 5,000 people in over 60 facilities coast-to-coast. For more information, visit www.fedex.ca
About FedEx Corp.
FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX) provides customers and businesses worldwide with a broad portfolio of transportation, e-commerce and business services. With annual revenues of $38 billion, the company offers integrated business applications through operating companies competing collectively and managed collaboratively, under the respected FedEx brand. Consistently ranked among the world’s most admired and trusted employers, FedEx inspires its more than 290,000 team members to remain “absolutely, positively” focused on safety, the highest ethical and professional standards and the needs of their customers and communities. For more information, visit http://news.fedex.com.
About PITCH-IN CANADA
For more than forty years, PITCH-IN CANADA has been recruiting and involving volunteers who are involved in its community-based environmental improvement and beautification programs. While community cleanup and litter prevention are very visible aspects of PITCH-IN CANADA’s programs, the goal of all their programs is to instill individual responsibility towards maintaining a clean and healthy environment. This includes conserving energy, creating green space, beautification, reducing environmental impact and much more. For more information about PITCH-IN CANADA and its programs, please visit www.pitch-in.ca.
About Tree Canada
Tree Canada is a not-for-profit charitable organization established to encourage Canadians to plant and care for trees in urban and rural environments. A winner of the Canadian Environmental Award (2007), Tree Canada engages Canadian companies, government agencies and individuals to support the planting of trees, the greening of schoolyards, and other efforts to sensitize Canadians to the benefits of planting and maintaining trees. To date, more than 76 million trees have been planted, more than 450 schoolyards have been greened, and Tree Canada has organized 8 national urban forestry conferences. More information about Tree Canada is available at www.treecanada.ca.