DHL Express Makes Big Strides in Sustainable Aviation Fuel Use

Recently, DHL Express announced a strategic cooperation with bp and Neste in sustainable aviation fuel. The two strategic partners will provide DHL Express with more than 800 million liters of sustainable aviation fuel in the next five years. This is the largest sustainable aviation fuel deal to date in the air transport industry.

The air transport industry is an important component and support of global economic activities. The sustainable development of the industry will make an important contribution to decarbonization and emission reduction. During the International Air Transport Association's 77th annual meeting last year, it approved a resolution for the global air transport industry to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. The use of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) is one of the main ways that the air transport industry is currently promoting the decarbonization process.

DHL Express expects that through this strategic cooperation, it will reduce about 2 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions during the life cycle of aviation fuel, which is equivalent to the greenhouse gas emissions produced by about 400,000 passenger cars in one year.

In addition to sustainable aviation fuel, improving aircraft fuel efficiency is also an important way to drive carbon reduction in the air transport industry.

The Boeing 777 Freighter is the world's largest, longest-range, high-performance twin-engine freighter with outstanding fuel efficiency. Compared to the B747-400, the Boeing 777 Freighter reduces CO2 emissions by 18%. Since 2018, DHL Express has purchased 28 new B777F aircraft. In addition, DHL Express has ordered 12 Alice all-electric freighters from all-electric aircraft manufacturer Eviation to build the world's first electric-powered air express network.

Deutsche Post DHL Group, the parent company of DHL Express, is the first logistics company in the world to commit to reducing all logistics-related emissions to zero by 2050. In order to ensure this goal is achieved on schedule, the group released a new sustainable development roadmap in 2021 and pledged to invest 7 billion euros (including operating expenditure and fixed asset expenditure) over the next 10 years to accelerate the decarbonization process. The investment will be mainly used to promote the electrification of the "last mile" delivery fleet, the development and utilization of sustainable aviation fuel and the construction of climate-neutral buildings. For the group, DHL Express's deal with bp and Neste marks an important step towards its goal of "using 30% sustainable aviation fuel blends in air transport by 2030".

According to estimates by Deutsche Post DHL Group, the total carbon emissions of the group in 2030 will be about 46 million tons without the implementation of the relevant measures of the new sustainable development roadmap. The group hopes to reduce carbon emissions to less than 29 million tons by 2030, against the backdrop that the global logistics business is expected to continue to grow strongly in the future.