An Post is a commercial organisation providing postal, distribution and financial services. They also provide agency services for a number of government departments including the National Treasury Management Agency, the National Lottery and other commercial bodies. An Post Retail is a subsidiary of An Post, the national Post Office in Ireland. The strategy for the An Post Retail business is to launch a range of new products and services to Irish consumers and SME’s, primarily in the Financial Services area through a partnership model with leading Financial Services organisations. Their range of Retail Banking products now includes Current Accounts, Loans, Credit Cards, Fx Cards & Cash, and Insurance. Their new brand ‘An Post Money’ was launched in March bringing together all their financial services products and propositions under one umbrella. Their ‘Human about Money’ brand purpose underpins how they engage with their customers by making their products and services fair and fast and putting customers in control of their finances. The Retail business manages €21.2bn in State Savings on behalf of the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA). Their consumer credit proposition includes a market leading credit card, an innovative green loan offering, and market leading personal loans. To date, An Post Retail has achieved 15% of new credit card sales and is the leading provider of credit cards after AIB and Bank of Ireland. Their current account proposition continues to add significant customer numbers with a 60% growth in 2019 versus 2018.
Summary of sustainability strategy
At An Post their purpose is to act for the common good and to improve the quality of life in Ireland, now and for generations to come. Sustainability informs every aspect of their business, every single day, enabling them to deliver benefits to their employees, customers and the communities they serve. As one of Ireland’s first Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Champions and a member of the UN Global Compact they have the ambition to be the leading corporate in Ireland on sustainability and to share their experiences nationally and internationally.
In An Post, common to the European postal sector, they focus on five of the sector-relevant UN SDGs. They are cognisant of the inter-connected nature of the goals and understand that making progress on climate action (SDG 13) is not possible without taking care of employees (SDG 8); investing in sustainable infrastructure (SDG9); supporting and being part of sustainable communities (SDG 11); and adopting a circular economy business model (SDG 12). Their sustainability strategy was launched in 2019 and utilises the SDGs as a reporting framework.
They are acutely aware of the impacts of climate change and the urgency of climate action. The climate crisis requires bravery and a pioneering spirit. That is why they cannot wait until 2050 to get to net zero carbon emissions, choosing instead to bring their target forward to 2030. More than making commitments and creating plans, they are delivering climate actions now, and are on track to halve their carbon emissions by 2025, against a baseline that has been measured and independently verified. Transparency and accountability are at the heart of making their sustainability actions credible.