UPS has earned a SmartWay Excellence award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for its efforts to reduce the impact of its operation on air quality, the parcel delivery company announced.

"UPS is committed to delivering goods to people in the most sustainable way possible," said Tamara Barker, chief sustainability officer and vice president of environmental affairs and domestic plant engineering at UPS. "We are honored to be recognized by the EPA for our accomplishments and look forward to continuing our work to create smarter and cleaner communities."

The award recognized UPS, one of 40 companies to receive the award, for its commitment to using alternative fuels and advanced technologies to improve transportation and operations sustainability, as well as for its transparency in reporting SmartWay data on emissions reductions.

UPS operates one of the largest alternative fuel and advanced technology fleets in the U.S. UPS deploys approximately 9,300 alternative fuel and advanced technology vehicles worldwide, including battery-electric, hybrid, hydraulic hybrid, ethanol, compressed natural gas (CNG), liquefied natural gas (LNG) and propane vehicles.

In addition to its use of alternative vehicles, UPS uses millions of gallons of lower carbon footprint renewable diesel and renewable natural gas (RNG) in its fleet each year.

The EPA's SmartWay program was launched in 2004 as a voluntary public-private program to help companies advance supply chain sustainability by measuring, benchmarking, and improving freight transportation efficiency. Since 2004, SmartWay Partners have avoided emitting more than 103 million metric tons of harmful air pollution, while saving more than 215 million barrels of oil and $29.7 billion in fuel costs.