By AYA DIAB, Associated Press

It feels simple: You shop, find something you want and click to buy. It shows up today, overnight or tomorrow. We’ve gotten used to that speed. But that convenience comes with a climate cost.

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Multiple factors shape the environmental toll of a delivery. These include the distance from a fulfillment center, whether the shipment rides in a half-empty truck, how many trips a driver makes in the same area and the type of transportation used to move the package.

When customers choose faster shipping and earlier delivery dates, the system shifts from optimized routing to whatever gets the package out fastest, and that means higher emissions, said Sreedevi Rajagopalan, a research scientist at MIT’s Center for Transportation and Logistics. For example, trucks may leave warehouses before they’re full and drivers might loop the same neighborhood multiple times a day, she said.

“For the same demand, fast shipping definitely increases emissions 10 to 12%,” she said.

To meet tight delivery windows, retailers may rely on air freight, which produces far more emissions than other options such as trains, making it the most carbon-intensive.

“Given that companies want to be competitive in terms of speed, it comes at the cost of your efficiency,” Sreedevi said. “Vans are half full, and you make multiple rounds, multiple trips to the same location … your fuel consumption goes up, and you’re not able to consolidate.”

One way companies like Amazon try to minimize that is by placing their supply chain closer to customers to reduce mileage and improve speed for the customer. Their goal is to make the journey fast and effective, but reduce its emissions at the same time.

“By really leveraging our supply chain efficiencies that we have at scale, we’re able to both offer better speed and sustainability outcomes at the same time,” said Chris Atkins, director of Worldwide Operations Sustainability at Amazon.

The last mile

Getting items to customers’ doors from a fulfillment center — referred to as the “last mile” or “last kilometer” of shipping — is one of the hardest stages to make less polluting, Sreedevi said.

Emissions rise even more when customers place multiple small orders throughout the week.

“If I place an order this morning and then I place an order this evening and choose fast shipping, the company might have already processed my morning order and wouldn’t wait for my evening order to consolidate,” she said.

And sending more half-full trucks out on the road means more trips overall.

“Imagine you’re not only sending a half-full truck, you’re also bringing back that truck empty. … Emissions are going to go up,” Sreedevi said.

Reducing emissions

Consumers can lower emissions if they’re willing to wait even a tiny bit, and they’ll save money at the same time, said Christopher Faires, assistant professor of logistics and supply chain management at Georgia Southern University.

Delaying delivery by one to two days can result in a 36% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions, and three to four days pushes that reduction to 56%, so opting for standard or delayed shipping instead of next-day or two-day shipping helps, according to Sreedevi.

Amazon’s Atkins said changes to their network are cutting emissions linked to fast delivery. The company has expanded the use of electric delivery vans and shifted more packages to rail and to delivering by foot or bicycle in dense cities.

“Aviation is very carbon-intensive relative to ground shipping,” said Atkins. “One of the other things that Amazon and other logistics companies are looking at doing is: How do we mode-shift to less carbon intensive forms of transportation?”

Amazon says providing shipping options that encourage customers to consolidate orders have also helped. Data for the first nine months of 2025 shows that when customers chose a single delivery day for all items, it reduced more than 300 million delivery stops and avoided 100,000 tons (90,718 metric tons) of carbon emissions, according to Atkins.

Consumers change behavior when they know the impact

People are more likely to delay or consolidate orders once they understand the environmental impact of fast shipping, according to Sreedevi, who co-authored a 2024 study of delivery customers in Mexico.

“A significant number of consumers decided to wait for longer delivery or delayed their shipping when we showed them the environmental impact information in the form of trees,” said Sreedevi. “So it’s important that they are educated.”

While fast shipping isn’t likely to go away, experts say its climate impacts can be meaningfully reduced through small behavior shifts, both from shoppers and companies. Bundling orders, skipping the overnight option and choosing a single weekly delivery can all make a difference.

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military said Monday that it had conducted another strike against a boat it said was smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing one person.

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In a social media post, U.S. Southern Command said, “Intelligence confirmed the low-profile vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations.” Southern Command provided no evidence that the vessel was engaged in drug smuggling.

A video posted by U.S. Southern Command shows splashes of water near one side of the boat. After a second salvo, the rear of the boat catches fire. More splashes engulf the craft and the fire grows. In the final second of the video, the vessel can be seen adrift with a large patch of fire alongside it.

Earlier videos of U.S. boat strikes showed vessels suddenly exploding, suggesting missile strikes. Some strike videos even had visible rocket-like projectiles coming down on the boats.

The Trump administration has said the strikes were meant to stop the flow of drugs into the U.S. and increase pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

At least 105 people have been killed in 29 known strikes since early September. The strikes have faced scrutiny from U.S. lawmakers and human rights activists, who say the administration has offered scant evidence that its targets are indeed drug smugglers and say the fatal strikes amount to extrajudicial killings.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Coast Guard has stepped up efforts to interdict oil tankers in the Caribbean Sea as part of the Trump administration’s escalating campaign against Maduro.

By MATT OTT, Associated Press Business Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy expanded at a surprisingly strong 4.3% annual rate in the third quarter, the most rapid expansion in two years, as consumer and government spending, as well as exports, all grew.

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U.S. gross domestic product from July through September — the economy’s total output of goods and services — rose from its 3.8% growth rate in the April-June quarter, the Commerce Department said Tuesday in a report delayed by the government shutdown. Analysts surveyed by the data firm FactSet forecast growth of 3% in the period.

However, inflation remains higher than the Federal Reserve would like. The Fed’s favored inflation gauge — called the personal consumption expenditures index, or PCE — climbed to a 2.8% annual pace last quarter, up from 2.1% in the second quarter.

Excluding volatile food and energy prices, so-called core PCE inflation was 2.9%, up from 2.6% in the April-June quarter.

Consumer spending, which accounts for about 70% of U.S. economic activity, rose to a 3.5% annual pace last quarter, up from 2.5% in the April-June period.

Consumption and investment by the government grew by 2.2% in the quarter after contracting 0.1% in the second quarter. The third quarter figure was boosted by increased expenditures at the state and local levels and federal government defense spending.

Private business investment fell 0.3%, led by declines in investment in housing and in nonresidential buildings such as offices and warehouses. However, that decline was much less than the 13.8% dropoff in the second quarter.

Within the GDP data, a category that measures the economy’s underlying strength grew at a 3% annual rate from July through September, up slightly from 2.9% in the second quarter. This category includes consumer spending and private investment, but excludes volatile items like exports, inventories and government spending.

Exports grew at an 8.8% rate, while imports, which subtract from GDP, fell another 4.7%.

Tuesday’s report is the first of three estimates the government will make of GDP growth for the third quarter of the year.

Outside of the first quarter, when the economy shrank for the first time in three years as companies rushed to import goods ahead of President Donald Trump’s tariff rollout, the U.S. economy has continued to expand at a healthy rate. That’s despite much higher borrowing rates the Fed imposed in 2022 and 2023 in its drive to curb the inflation that surged as the United States bounced back with unexpected strength from the brief but devastating COVID-19 recession of 2020.

Though inflation remains above the Fed’s 2% target, the central bank cut its benchmark lending rate three times in a row to close out 2025, mostly out of concern for a job market that has steadily lost momentum since spring.

Last week, the government reported that the U.S. economy gained a decent 64,000 jobs in November but lost 105,000 in October. Notably, the unemployment rate rose to 4.6% last month, the highest since 2021.

The country’s labor market has been stuck in a “low hire, low fire” state, economists say, as businesses stand pat due to uncertainty over Trump’s tariffs and the lingering effects of elevated interest rates. Since March, job creation has fallen to an average 35,000 a month, compared to 71,000 in the year ended in March. Fed Chair Jerome Powell has said that he suspects those numbers will be revised even lower.

Days after Timothy Bertz reached his dream of becoming a St. Paul firefighter, he suffered a serious medical event at home, the fire department said Monday.

Bertz, 52, was hospitalized, where he died.

Timothy Bertz (Courtesy of the St. Paul Fire Department)

He started his career as a firefighter in 2017 as a paid-on-call firefighter at the Harris Fire Department in Chisago County and later was a duty crew member with Lino Lakes Fire Department.

“Tim Bertz truly reflected what it meant to be a St. Paul firefighter,” said Fire Chief Butch Inks said in a statement. “He excelled in the academy because of his discipline and the way he led by example. This was a calling for him, and he chose to serve St. Paul. We are grateful for the time we had with Tim and are devastated by this loss.”

Bertz and 20 other people graduated from the department’s eight-week academy on Wednesday in a ceremony at the Minnesota History Center. He hadn’t yet worked his first shift as a St. Paul firefighter; the new firefighters were still working on the training site Friday, said Deputy Fire Chief Jamie Smith.

Bertz suffered a medical event at home Saturday morning, which the fire department didn’t detail.

“While his time with St. Paul Fire was brief, firefighter Bertz’s character, dedication, and commitment left a lasting impression on those who trained with and worked alongside him,” Smith said. “… He was a proud military veteran who answered the call to serve both his country and his community as a Navy SEAL.”

Bertz is survived by his wife, Andrea, and other family and friends. A public memorial service will be held Monday at Maranatha Church in Forest Lake. The fire department said they will share details of the service when they are available.

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