DHL makes massive SAF investment

DHL Express has signed an agreement with sustainable aviation company World Energy to buy 668m litres of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) through sustainable aviation fuel certificates (SAFc).

The seven-year contract, to 2030, is one of the longest and largest SAFc agreements in the aviation industry to date, said DHL.

Under the SAFc system, the fuel’s environmental attributes are separated from the fuel itself using a Book & Claim model, with the aim of ensuring that the emission reductions associated with each credit are accurately transferred and verified by a third party.

DHL Express will purchase SAFc, utilise the associated emission reductions, and extend the environmental attributes to its customers through the GoGreen Plus service.

DHL adds that SAFc delivered through Book & Claim also helps to minimise logistical costs and emissions as the fuel does not need to be shipped around the world, making them the most efficient way to decarbonise aviation.

All World Energy SAFcs for DHL will meet Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials standards and will be monitored by an independent registry to ensure traceability of claims. The fuel itself will be supplied to Los Angeles area airports, close to World Energy’s production facility in Paramount, California.

The deal is expected to cut around 1.7m tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions over the aviation fuel lifecycle – the equivalent, for example, to the 77,000 annual aircraft movements of DHL Express in the Americas operating carbon neutrally for a full year.

Under its Sustainability Roadmap, DHL Group aims to reduce its annual greenhouse gas emissions to below 29m tonnes CO₂e in 2030 across scopes 1, 2 and 3. 

DHL Express chief executive, John Pearson, said: “DHL Express is firmly dedicated to pioneering a sustainable future in aviation logistics. By partnering with World Energy and confirming this milestone agreement, we are taking another concrete leap towards minimizing our carbon footprint and contributing to a more sustainable future.

“We want to inspire more suppliers to accelerate industry-wide production and adoption of SAF.”

World Energy chief executive, Gene Gebolys, added: “We are honoured to team up with DHL on this quest to decarbonize aviation. Decarbonizing the hard-to-abate sectors requires commitment across the value chain, and partnerships like the one we are launching today are key to enabling companies like DHL to meet their ambitious climate goals.”

DHL has made a number of other commitments to SAF this year. 

In July, DHL Express and law firm Linklaters partnered on the use of SAF to reduce emissions generated by air shipments in Asia and UAE.

The previous month DHL Global Forwarding and IAG Cargo also partnered on the purchase of SAF.

DHL Global Forwarding calls for more SAF with shipper demand rising

DHL Express and Linklaters team up on SAF

DHL GF and IAG Cargo partner on SAF

DHL Express airline launches SAF service to cut shipment emissions