Start the Shift: Q&A with FedEx's Mitch Jackson
As part of its Start the Shift campaign, FedEx recently announced an increase in the number of fuel-efficient vehicles it uses. The goal is to ease our reliance on oil, while reducing the company's environmental impact by getting more all-electric and electric-hybrid FedEx Express vehicles on the road. Mitch Jackson, vice president of FedEx's Environmental Affairs and Sustainability, answers questions from Net Impact about the campaign and the company's overall mission to address energy and sustainability issues.
What is the goal behind FedEx's Start the Shift Campaign?
Seventy percent of oil consumed in the U.S. is used for transportation. Cars and trucks are more than 90 percent reliant on oil-based fuel for their energy. And, we know the burdens this brings to our environment, our economy, our citizens, and our government. Albert Einstein once said, We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them. What we hope this shows is that there are solutions - and electrification of transportation is one. But it's not a silver bullet that solves the entire conundrum - nothing really fills that role. It is, however, another solution we can use to help diversify our energy needs, lessen our environmental impact, and compete in the global economy through innovation.
What is FedEx doing as part of this launch?
We joined with Environmental Defense Fund years ago to call for environmentally-friendly, fuel-efficient commercial vehicles. And our work with EDF and Eaton Corporation resulted in making hybrid electric commercial trucks a reality. We were the first in the U.S. transportation logistics industry to set a goal to improve the mileage of our FedEx Express vehicles back in 2008. To date, we've achieved a 15.1% improvement in fuel economy since 2005. But we didn't stop there. We were the first company in the U.S. transportation-logistics industry to push for commercial-vehicle fuel-economy and greenhouse gas legislation, which was ultimately enacted in the Energy Independence & Security Act of 2007. And, we helped create a set of principles to inform and support this first-ever national greenhouse gas and fuel efficiency program for medium- and heavy-duty vehicles that has just come into effect.
What's the back-story? How have your partnerships with EDF and Eaton Corporation helped advance each organization's sustainability goals?
As I mentioned, we started working with Environmental Defense Fund years ago on the need for a more environmentally-friendly and fuel-efficient commercial vehicle. Eaton Corporation supplied the first drivetrain we used to do this. What this showed, I think, is that this new technology worked, and that, with scale, they had the potential to be viable. This gave us the confidence then to go to the U.S. Congress and ask for new technologies and more fuel efficient vehicles in early 2007. And, I believe, it allowed us to be more visionary in viewing electric vehicles as an opportunity, rather than simply viewing them as an unproven risk.
You've written pretty passionate blog entries about this topic - why is this an issue of such personal importance to you?
Well, from the Greek philosophers down to today, it's been stated that change is both constant and permanent. Yet we naturally seek stability - but that shouldn't mean a blind adherence to the same solutions that may have worked in the past, but are now problematic. So, a great deal of my blog posts have tried to focus on this, while specifically addressing energy and sustainability issues. However, the theme is the same, whether it's sustainability or business in general. Innovation and openness to solutions for change are key on so many levels.
What inspired you to speak at the 2011 Net Impact Conference? What do you hope the conference attendees leave with after hearing you speak?
Net Impact has been so effective at engaging young people interested in sustainability. But a rigid, dogmatic approach to sustainability is a risky proposition - a classic case of erecting so many problems or limitations that then allow for no solutions. We have to avoid falling into the trap of being against anything that we are not specifically for. We cannot just always swing for the fences, but have to look to make ongoing, continual, collaborative progress. Ultimately, we have to be open to new approaches, and it will take everyone - us and them, businesses and government - to find environmental and economic sustainable solutions for the future.
This piece originally ran in Net Impact's Leading Business newsletter.
