DHL staff plant trees in HCMC’s outlying district of Can Gio on Sunday. (SGT)

DHL staff planted 12,000 trees in these areas, said Tim Baxter, general director of DHL-VNPT Express, a joint venture between the world’s leading express and logistics and Vietnam’s VNPT Group. He said the objective is to build a better environment.

The environmental program received a quick response the first time it was introduced to DHL staff in Vietnam. Employees from DHL Express, Global Forwarding, and Supply Chain divisions, and business partners spent their Sunday holidays in Can Gio and Tam Dao to practice good deeds as part of the company’s Volunteer Day.

“In previous years we visited orphanages in Binh Duong and Dong Nai. This year, we turn our attention to Can Gio and Tam Dao, where our employees donated food to underprivileged people, and importantly, created a better environment by planting trees,” Baxter said.

Can Gio’s mangrove forest covers over 36,000 hectares, providing a sanctuary for native flora and fauna species. Called the “Green Lung” of HCMC, the forest was recognized as the Biosphere Reserve by the UNESCO in early 2000.

Up the north of Vietnam, Tam Dao National Park is home to a large number of reptile and amphibian species, and therefore, it has become the important spot for the highest levels of herpetological survey effort in Vietnam.

That was why the areas were the focus of this year’s DHL Volunteer Day, which Baxter said is one of the highlights in the company’s calendar. DHL Global Forwarding’s managing director Adrian Shou noted the day was special, as it allowed the company’s employees to contribute their time and effort through hands-on community engagement projects to improve people’s lives in Vietnam.

Baxter said focusing this year’s DHL Volunteer Day on the GoGreen pillar in Vietnam would raise further awareness about climate protection among the company’s employees and make them understand why their contribution is crucial.

Launched in Asia Pacific in 2008, DHL Volunteer Day has expanded into the Americas, the Middle East, Africa and Europe over the years, and has continued to build on its success by involving more employees than ever before.

In September this year, some 30,000 DHL employees, customers and business partners in over 100 countries and territories have joined community projects to support various local causes. These programs deliver to the company’s three corporate social responsibility pillars that are Education (GoTeach), Environment (GoGreen) and Disaster Management (GoHelp).

DHL is committed to contributing to communities around the world in which it operates. In Vietnam, the DHL team went out to the forests in an effort to conserve the quality of the environment and contribute to climate protection.

As environmental protection has been a matter of great concern globally and locally, the company is making strides in reducing its carbon dioxide emissions and aiding customers in achieving a greener footprint. A typical example is that the company switched off the lights in most of its offices and service centers during Earth Hour 2009 and 2010 to minimize its impact on the planet.

DHL staff are now working on ways of increasing resource efficiency. To further strengthen its commitment to global warming, the company has fully fitted most of its facilities in Vietnam including HCMC Gateway and Hanoi Service Center with energy-saving light bulbs.

Certainly, saving energy is good for both the environment and DHL, as this was proved in the financial year 2009 when DHL Express across Asia Pacific achieved the carbon dioxide emission reduction by 13 million kilograms and 10 million euro savings from overall energy and ground vehicular fuel costs.

Last year, DHL was recognized for environmental leadership by the Climate Counts Organization, which placed the company well ahead of the field in the logistics industry in measuring, reducing and reporting our environmental impact.

Riding on the achievements, DHL has set itself the goal of achieving an increase of 10% in its carbon efficiency by 10% by 2012 and 30% by 2020 for the company and its subcontractors as well.

Through the GoGreen the company targets to cut its carbon footprint for every letter mailed, every container shipped, and every square meter of warehouse space used by 30% against the base year 2007. This also benefits the environment in Vietnam.

“DHL has established clear and absolute goals to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions, with oversight on climate action at the highest level in the company… The company also provides consumers with a way to take action around the use of its products and support climate-specific employee awareness programs,” Climate Counts comments.