The companies signed a three-year agreement for the purchase of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) to continue promoting the decarbonization of airline operations around the world.
“DHL Global Forwarding is excited about this new effort with Air France KLM Martinair Cargo (AFKLMP). It has been a reliable long-term 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,” says a statement issued by the German logistics company.
Customers will be able, when contracting DHL, to select the sustainable option. And on that basis, purchase a logistics service with lower greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere. Recall that sustainable aviation fuels emit up to 80% less CO2 than conventional fossil fuels, thus becoming one of the main tools to decarbonize flights in the short term.
“With our sustainability roadmap, we have set ourselves ambitious goals on our journey towards zero emissions. Sustainable fuels are a key part of our efforts. That’s why we have committed to meet at least 30 percent of air and marine cargo 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 emissions reductions are attributed to our customers. We must all work together to accelerate the transition to a low-carbon and ultimately zero-emission transportation sector. After all, we only have one planet,” said Tim Scharwath, CEO of DHL Global Forwarding.
“In October 2021, Air France KLM Group committed to having its CO2 emissions reduction targets validated by the Science Based Targets (SBTi) initiative. This ensured that its targets are in line with the Paris Agreement. Air France-KLM is one of the first European airline groups to have its decarbonization trajectory validated by SBTi. This important new step in the Group’s decarbonization strategy adds to its goal of zero net emissions by 2050,” the statement added.
This agreement is an important step for the air cargo industry. Particularly for the airline industry in general in terms of sustainability, as DHL’s commitment, combined with that of Air France-KLM Group, is an important message to the rest of the industry players.
