PostEurop proudly announces the winners of the Coups de Cœur 2024 competition, recognizing outstanding Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives across the postal sector. The awards were presented during the annual General Assembly held in Belgrade on 16 October 2024, honouring innovative and impactful projects that reflect the postal industry’s commitment to economic, environmental, and social progress.
This year’s competition received an array of high-quality 47 submissions, and the winning initiatives highlight PostEurop members’ efforts to embed sustainability, innovation, and social responsibility into their operations. Each of these initiatives reflects the transformative potential of the postal sector in addressing key societal challenges.
Employees Category: Groupe La Poste’s “Tester Group of Employees with Disabilities”
Le Groupe La Poste has made impressive strides in promoting inclusivity within the workplace by inviting its 14,000 employees with disabilities to form a dedicated ‘tester group.’ This group actively contributes to the improvement of La Poste’s services and human resources processes by participating in usability testing. The initiative empowers employees with disabilities to provide feedback on the accessibility of postal products and HR solutions. This initiative not only adds value to La Poste’s offerings but also enhances the company’s commitment to inclusivity and diversity.
The other top 4 initiatives in the Employees Category were Hrvatska pošta’s “Enhancing employee experience in response to inflation and workforce changes”, Magyar Posta’s “Forklift-Free Zone”, CTT Correios de Portugal’s “Family-Responsible Company – EFR Certificate” and Swiss Post’s “PostalNetwork Inclusion”.
Economy Category: PostNL’s “Letter Aid”
PostNL’s “Letter Aid” addresses the challenge of low literacy by simplifying letters and offering a read-aloud feature through the PostNL app. The service is designed to assist the 1 in 7 individuals who struggle to understand written correspondence. By using AI to translate letters into simplified language and optional translations, PostNL ensures that people with low literacy can manage their mail independently and with greater ease. The initiative has already undergone successful testing with both internal staff and advocacy groups, demonstrating PostNL’s commitment to inclusivity and innovation in communication.
The other top 4 initiatives in the Economy Category were Omniva’s “Personal Postal Service”, Poste Italiane’s “Postepay green” and Poşta Română‘s “Help to institutionalized children” and “STEP HEAR system nationwide extension”.
Environment Category: Posti’s “Developing a converted e-truck to enable lower pricepoint for subcontractors”
Posti has committed to an ambitious goal of operating fossil-free by 2030 – that is, in less than six years. The company already has more than 300 e-vans, over 10 e-trucks, and over 40 biogas trucks. However, the goal also includes the transport partners Posti uses. New electric trucks are very expensive. That’s why Posti, and VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, started a joint program of converting an old diesel truck into an electric trucks. That enables cheaper heavy electric vehicles especially for the use of smaller transport companies but also for Posti to use itself.
The other top 4 initiatives in the Environment Category were PostNord Danmark’s “33% electricity reduction”, La Poste’s “Joining forces to accelerate buildings’ energy transition”, An Post’s “Supporting surrounding Irish biodiversity”, PostNord Sverige’s “AI-based optimizer framework for Mid-Mile linehaul planning and Operations Module”
”It is truly admirable how many PostEurop members have once again submitted projects for the Coup de Coeur Award, showcasing an incredible range of aspects across the three pillars of sustainability. This demonstrates that PostEurop members are among the most innovative leaders in sustainability, and we look forward to seeing many new projects in the future.” Oliver Kaliski, Chair of the Environment, Social and Governance Transversal
Congratulations to all the winners.
About PostEurop
POSTEUROP is the association which represents European postal operators since 1993. It is also an officially recognised Restricted Union of the Universal Postal Union (UPU). It is committed to supporting and developing a sustainable and competitive European postal communication market accessible to all citizens, and ensuring a modern and affordable universal service. Its members employ 2 million people, operate about 295,000 service and pick-up points across Europe, handling billions of items a year and deliver to over 355 million homes and 50 million companies.
For more information, go to www.posteurop.org
For more information, please contact:
Cynthia Wee Neumann
Communications Manager
T: +32 2 773 11 92
E: cynthia.wee@posteurop.org