How Royal Mail will use AI to calculate supplier emissions

Royal Mail, the UK's postal service, is testing a new AI tool that estimates the carbon emissions tied to its supplier contracts before deals get signed. Built in six weeks by the company's head of climate strategy, the tool checks whether a new purchase — like buying equipment or signing a multi-year vendor contract — would push emissions past a set limit. If it does, the deal gets extra review. If not, it moves ahead without added screening.

This is part of Royal Mail's effort to cut what's called Scope 3 emissions, the indirect emissions that come from a company's supply chain rather than its own operations, by 25 percent by 2030. Environmental factors already count for 10 percent of how Royal Mail scores vendor bids, and this tool adds a faster way to flag purchases with a bigger carbon footprint. It can also show tradeoffs, such as when a pricier supplier actually produces fewer emissions, giving the company more information before it decides where to spend money.

For homeowners, this isn't a program you can sign up for or a rebate you can claim. It's a look at how a major company is using AI to track and reduce emissions in its own purchasing decisions, mainly around large-scale contracts like equipment and vehicles. Royal Mail plans to test the tool with part of its procurement team before expanding it further, including possibly to fuel and mileage tracking.