BRUSSELS, Belgium — Twenty-four postal services yesterday announced the creation of a carbon-measurement and -monitoring system that aims to standardize how the global mail industry reports its greenhouse gas emissions.

The system was created by the member posts of the International Post Corporation, the trade association that includes postal services from Europe, North America and Asia. Yesterday's announcement involved the creation of a pilot program to fine-tune the standards by which members report their emissions.

Currently based on international reporting standards including ISO 14001, Global Reporting Initiative's sustainability reportin guidelines, the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, the FTSE4Good standard and the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes, the new standard will use a scorecard system to grade performance across 10 areas of carbon management. Among the areas included in the evaluation are strategy of management, employee engagement, measurement and verification, setting targets for performance, disclosure and reporting, and managing the value chain.

"This is the first time that a supply industry has come together to address its impact on the environment." said the CEO of the IPC, Herbert-Michael Zapf. "The IPC Environmental Measurement and Monitoring System provides our members with a way of measuring and benchmarking their initiatives and optimizing their effectiveness. It can be used by all postal operators, regardless of size or what stage they are at in their environmental programs."

Although this is the first group effort to green the postal service, individual members of the IPC have already begun implementing carbon-reduction strategies. The U.S. Postal Service, for instance, recently launched its free ewaste recycling program, and just over a year ago became the first shipping company to receive Cradle to Cradle certification for some of its packages.

The U.K.'s Royal Mail has been involved in promoting carbon reductions and offset schemes; it has adopted 100 percent renewable electric energy and unveiled a carbon-neutral product last year and a calculator for reducing an individual's carbon footprint.

German logistics company Deutsche Post World Net has started down a path to cut its European fleet emissions to 5 percent below 1990 levels by 2012, which it aims to achieve by maximizing efficiency in its vehicles and shipping routes, as well as incorporating alternative fuels into its operations. Along those lines, Dutch logistics company TNT last month added 100 electric trucks to replace its existing diesel models.