DHL Express, Shell team up for SAF in air freight
Ready for take off! A DHL cargo plane is refueled at DHL's largest hub in Leipzig. As part of DHL's sustainability strategy, the proportion of sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) is to reach 30 percent by 2030. Contact: [email protected]
DHL Express and Shell have joined forces to drive sustainable air freight operations at Brussels Airport through a one-year partnership using 25 kilotonnes of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) via pipeline directly to the airport.
This SAF, certified under the International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC Plus), is produced in a fossil refinery by replacing fossil crude oil with renewable feedstocks.
“Our customers benefit from our continuously increasing SAF coverage across different regions, now including our investment in SAF at Brussels Airport,” said Travis Cobb, EVP global network operations and aviation, DHL Express.
Through DHL GoGreen Plus, customers can reduce their Scope 3 emissions, which are indirect greenhouse gas emissions generated in a company’s value chain. GoGreen Plus directly reduces emissions within the logistics sector through the “book and claim” approach.
“Our collaboration with DHL at Brussels Airport reflects a joint commitment to reduce emissions from air freight specifically, and across the entire aviation value chain,” said Raman Ojha, president, Shell Aviation.
DHL has set an ambitious goal of achieving net-zero emissions across all logistics-related activities by 2050.
The GoGreen Plus service is a key component of this strategy, contributing to the interim target of using 30% SAF for all air transportation by 2030.
Major global corporates have signed up to DHL’s GoGreen Plus service across the world to reduce their aviation-related emissions.
Earlier in October, DHL Express and DHL Global Forwarding renewed their contract with IAG Cargo, the cargo handling division of International Airlines Group (IAG), to use an additional 60m liters of SAF on behalf of DHL.
The new contract, covering 2024 and 2025 emissions, will result in a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions of approximately 165,000 metric tons of CO2e. This annual emissions reduction would be equivalent to removing a B747-400 freighter from DHL’s intercontinental operations from the UK to US, making the partnership the largest SAF agreement between an airline and a customer to date.