August 17 - Global forwarder DHL has launched an initiative to retrofit energy efficient lighting and equipment at its global forwarding units in the Americas region: initially to be rolled out in the United States before expanding to Canada and Mexico.

As part of its interim target of five percent CO2 efficiency improvement by the end of 2010, DHL will retrofit more energy-efficient lighting at its Philadelphia, Pennsylvania operation, followed by Atlanta, Georgia; Dallas, Texas; and Miami, Florida to follow. The San Juan, Puerto Rico operations is also planned in the initial rollout before expanding into Canada and Mexico; where assessments are already under way.

DHL Global Forwarding operations in Houston, Texas; Chicago, Illinois; and Los Angeles have already put in place energy-efficient lighting setups. In February 2008 the Toronto, Ontario facility in Canada was built in keeping with Deutsche Post DHL's global commitment to energy efficiency and environmental responsibility.

The advanced lighting system installed in the new facility is expected to yield a 73 percent reduction in energy consumption for lighting. In addition, the building's environmentally friendly design will result in greenhouse and noxious gas emission reductions equal to savings of more than 56,000 litres of gasoline a year or driving 1,500 fewer kilometres each day.