A new research report by the global Clean Mobility Collective (CMC) and Stand.earth Research Group (SRG) finds that the Indian e-commerce market is expected to witness a tenfold increase from current levels of 4 billion parcels delivered per year to 40 billion parcels delivered a year by 2030.

The total annual emissions from the sector are expected to be 8 million (80 lakhs) tons of CO2 by 2030. This is the equivalent of the emissions from 1.615 million (16.5 lakh) petrol cars driven for a year or the emissions 1 from 20 gas-fired power plants in a year.

A key finding of the report Cost of Convenience: Revealing the hidden climate and health impacts of the global e-commerce-driven parcel delivery industry through 2030, predicts that global annual e-commerce emissions related to last-mile delivery alone could rise to as high as 160,000 tons of CO2 per year by 2030.

“With e-commerce growing exponentially over the coming years, the industry needs to address its ballooning emission footprint. The data we are releasing globally is intended to apprise governments, policymakers, and companies of the need for urgent action and aligns with the Niti Aayog’s Shoonya campaign which is spearheading decarbonisation of the sector. Additionally, several state governments are actively looking at addressing emissions from commercial fleets and this would be useful in policy and action at that level too,” said Siddharth Sreenivas, India Coordinator for the Clean Mobility Collective.

The report also finds that in a business-as-usual scenario from 2023 to 2030, the major international and domestic players in the Indian logistics market like Amazon, Flipkart and DHL will collectively contribute an additional 17 million tons of CO2 emissions. 

A key finding of the report Cost of Convenience: Revealing the hidden climate and health impacts of the global e-commerce-driven parcel delivery industry through 2030, predicts that global annual e-commerce emissions related to last-mile delivery alone could rise to as high as 160,000 tons of CO2 per year by 2030.

“With e-commerce growing exponentially over the coming years, the industry needs to address its ballooning emission footprint. The data we are releasing globally is intended to apprise governments, policymakers and companies of the need for urgent action and aligns with the Niti Aayog’s Shoonya campaign which is spearheading decarbonisation of the sector. Additionally, several state governments are actively looking at addressing emissions from commercial fleets and this would be useful in policy and action at that level too,” said Siddharth Sreenivas, India Coordinator for the Clean Mobility Collective.

The report also finds that in a business-as-usual scenario from 2023 to 2030, the major international and domestic players in the Indian logistics market like Amazon, Flipkart and DHL will collectively contribute an additional 17 million tons of CO2 emissions.

The report also singles out Amazon, the global market leader in e-commerce, for its insufficient commitments towards achieving zero emission deliveries by 2030. Amazon also has been highlighted for complete data opacity on their overall emissions including scope 1 and scope 3 under which fleet emissions mainly fall and also lack of reporting on fleet sizes and subcontractor information.

“Unabated growth of last-mile delivery will have significant climate and health impacts if e-commerce companies fail to act at scale before 2030. Amazon, in particular — the sector’s global leader — knows this is a problem and, in turn, has announced net zero 2040 plans, said SRG Investigative Researcher, Dr. Devyani Singh.

Based on this new research, not only are Amazon’s plans too weak and a decade too late, the company discloses far less information on last mile delivery than its e-commerce peers about its progress. Amazon and other last-mile delivery companies must urgently commit to 100% zero-emission deliveries by 2030, and begin fully disclosing their emissions and progress in transitioning to clean transportation,” she added.

The report adds that cumulatively from 2023 to 2030, without any substantial change in EV adoption, the total of all of the world’s delivery companies’ last mile emissions could contribute up to 168,000 cumulative cases of asthma exacerbation up to 285,000 cumulative cases of respiratory symptoms, and up to 9,500 premature deaths globally.

The report also singles out Amazon, the global market leader in e-commerce, for its insufficient commitments towards achieving zero emission deliveries by 2030. Amazon also has been highlighted for complete data opacity on their overall emissions including scope 1 and scope 3 under which fleet emissions mainly fall and also lack of reporting on fleet sizes and subcontractor information.

“Unabated growth of last-mile delivery will have significant climate and health impacts if e-commerce companies fail to act at scale before 2030. Amazon, in particular — the sector’s global leader — knows this is a problem and, in turn, has announced net zero 2040 plans, said SRG Investigative Researcher, Dr. Devyani Singh.

Based on this new research, not only are Amazon’s plans too weak and a decade too late, the company discloses far less information on last mile delivery than its e-commerce peers about its progress. Amazon and other last-mile delivery companies must urgently commit to 100% zero-emission deliveries by 2030, and begin fully disclosing their emissions and progress in transitioning to clean transportation,” she added.