DHL has implied that commercial airline passengers are partly to blame for the slow adoption of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), after signing a contract with Shell for a year’s supply of SAF at Brussels Airport. The move makes the German logistics group “by far the largest purchaser of sustainable aviation fuels at Brussels Airport”, it says.
80 kilotons of CO2 emissions prevented
The 25,000 tonnes of fuel, co-processed in a refinery by replacing fossil crude oil with renewable feedstocks, will be certified by the International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC) programme. It will arrive at the airport via pipeline, meaning that DHL can replace around a third of the kerosene it usually deploys in its cargo flights from Brussels. Greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) are expected to drop by 80 kilotons of CO2e as a result, the firm said in a press release.
The deal takes DHL closer to its self-imposed goal of reducing all logistics-related emissions to net zero by 2050, as well as its interim target of using 30% SAF for all air transportation by 2030. It also helps DHL freight customers meet their own downstream emissions targets via the company’s so called “GoGreen Plus service” – a verified emissions reduction “insetting” (not offsetting) programme.
DHL using 15% of world’s SAF supply
DHL is already one of the top three SAF buyers globally, having consumed 72,000 tonnes of SAF in 2023. That accounts for 15% of Earth’s global annual SAF output, based on International Air Transport Association (IATA) estimates, which sit at approximately 500,000t of SAF produced in 2023.
What’s more, DHL recently signed a supply agreement with Florida-based commodities firm World Kinect Corporation, for two-years’ worth of blended and pure SAF at Miami International Airport.
Businesses more “willing” to pay for sustainable solutions
But it is remarks by the German company about the difference between corporate cargo customers and private flyers in the commercial aviation sector that have caught some people’s attention, in particular about their attitudes to the cost of the green transition. DHL can pass on the price of its SAF contracts to its corporate customers because they are simply more prepared to stump up the cost of greener transport solutions than private flyers are, the firm said. “There is a greater willingness among business customers to pay for more sustainable solutions,” the company said.
Corporate cargo customers are of course bound by their own and international targets to seek out solutions to reducing their own direct and indirect emissions and make their supply chains more sustainable, whereas passengers are – as yet – only bound by their own conscience.
