DHL purchases 33 million litres of SAF from AFKLMP

DHL Global Forwarding (DGF), the air and ocean freight sector of Deutsche Post DHL Group, has signed an agreement with Air France KLM Martinair Cargo (AFKLMP) for the purchase of 33 million litres of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).

DGF is “excited” about the three-year co-operation with AFKLMP, which has been a long-term, reliable partner and one of the leaders in the Group’s GoGreen carrier certification program for many years.

The initiative is part of Deutsche Post DHL Group’s Sustainability Roadmap, which aims to spend €7 billion on green technologies by 2030 and reduce all logistics-related emissions to zero by 2050.

“With our Sustainability Roadmap, we have set ourselves ambitious goals on our journey towards zero emissions. Sustainable fuels are a fundamental part of our efforts. That is why we have committed to covering at least 30% of air freight and ocean freight fuel requirements with sustainable fuels by 2030. Our partnership with AFKLMP will help us achieve that goal. At the same time, it serves as another example of the success of our ‘book & claim’ system, which ensures that reductions in Scope 3 emissions are attributed to our customers. We must all work together to accelerate the transition to a low-carbon – and ultimately zero-carbon – emissions transport sector. After all, we only have one planet,” says Tim Scharwath, CEO DHL Global Forwarding, freight.

Lower emissions

The logistics giant expects the partnership to save 80,000+ tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions by blending SAF with regular aviation fuel on AFKLMP flights.

“The Air France KLM Martinair Cargo teams are strongly committed and feel responsible for creating a sustainable future for our industry. This deal is a great opportunity to accelerate our joint sustainability efforts. SAF has a lot of potential to reduce CO2 emissions and we are delighted to collaborate with our strong, long-term partner DHL Global Forwarding on this journey to greener logistics and transportation in the coming years,” says Adriaan den Heijer, EVP Air France KLM Cargo and managing director Martinair.

Back to the customer

DGF’s partnership with AFKLMP will work similarly to earlier collaborations, with customers benefiting from the partnership through a ‘book and claim’ system. When purchasing a DGF service, they can select the sustainable option. The related Scope 3 emissions reduction will be credited to their account.

Since it is nearly impossible both technically and logistically to physically track SAF from production to the airplane, ‘book & claim’ offers a digital accounting system to track and transfer emissions reductions from sustainable fuels across the value chains.