Book and claim explained

It’s no secret that transportation has a large carbon footprint – and that reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the sector is fundamental to the fight against climate change. While it’s going to take technologies like electrification to fully decarbonize the movement of people and goods, we do have options to reduce emissions now – and at DHL, we don’t wait.

Sustainable fuels are increasingly available as alternatives to diesel, kerosene, and other fossil fuels. The International Energy Agency projects that global biofuel demand could reach up to 310 billion liters per year by 2030 if announced policies are fully implemented – around 30% above its main-case forecast. Another example is sustainable aviation fuel (SAF): according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), production doubled from 2023 to 2024 and rose again in 2025 to roughly 1.9 million tonnes. Yet IATA warns this is still far short of what's needed to reach the industry's 2050 net-zero goal – which is exactly why scaling demand for sustainable fuels matters now.

But there’s a problem: you can’t pull up to any pump and fill your truck or plane with sustainable fuels. They are transported along existing supply chains and often blended with fossil-based fuels. So, there’s no way to track how much of it goes into one individual vehicle.

The energy industry faced a similar challenge. Most of us don’t live near a wind or solar farm, and we can’t control the source of the electricity supplied to our homes. But if we want to buy renewable energy, we can. It might not end up in our electrical outlets, but the money we spend pays for renewable energy production within the same grid.

The same concept now exists for sustainable fuels: a chain-of-custody model that tracks and documents environmental benefits of sustainable fuels – an accounting system now commonly referred to as “book and claim”.

It’s a virtual solution to a physical problem based on a one-atmosphere approach. All GHG emissions enter the same atmosphere, so as far as Mother Earth is concerned, it doesn’t matter which vehicle, vessel, or aircraft is burning sustainable fuels instead of fossil fuels.

The book and claim system is essentially a way to de-couple specific attributes from the physical product, such as reduced GHG emissions, and transfer them separately to another party, in the best case via a dedicated digital registry. The buyer and seller do not need to be connected with a physical supply chain. The buyer ‘books’ a specific quantity of sustainable fuel at the time of purchase and then ‘claim’ the emissions reduction toward their sustainability targets. As a result, the buyer owns the environmental benefits without physically possessing the fuel. They receive an independently verified certificate to certify their claim (more on that below).

Book and claim is based on the concept of carbon insetting, which is about funding projects aimed at reducing carbon emissions within the same value chain or sector. Carbon insets are different from carbon offsetting, which aims to fund projects like tree planting to offset carbon emissions. If done right, book and claim systems have the potential to sharply reduce the carbon footprint of the transportation sector.

The book and claim system is modeled after energy attribute certificates, which helped enable the power of markets to drive change and accelerate demand for renewable energy. When a sustainable fuel supplier produces the product, they generate a certificate based on a certain quantity of sustainable fuel (e.g., one metric ton) they make from sustainable feedstock. You receive that independently verified certificate when you purchase sustainable fuel attributes through a book and claim system or when you purchase a low-emission transport service powered by those fuels (or an electric vehicle). So, even though your package or freight might not have been shipped in a truck, plane or ship powered by sustainable fuel, somewhere in the network someone else’s shipment did. Your purchase has replaced fossil-based fuel and reduced overall transport emissions – and you get the credit for that.

It’s important to note that everyone benefits from the book and claim system. When fuel producers sell the physical fuel, the vehicle operators who purchase sustainable fuel and receive certificates can claim the environmental benefits in their direct GHG emissions footprint (Scope 1). Logistics companies like express delivery services and freight forwarders can buy by the value of the indirect emission reductions (Scope 3). And they can pass the Scope 3 reductions on to customers. Scope 1 and 3 benefits can be purchased separately.

The book and claim system is basically an accounting model, but it’s also an innovative solution to a complex problem. It enables anyone to contribute to emission-reduced logistics. Whether shipping a parcel or a pallet, any individual or company can participate in the market for sustainable fuels – and claim the emissions reductions toward their sustainability targets. Their goods may not technically travel in a vehicle using sustainable fuels, but their purchase means a truck, plane, or ship somewhere is running on a fuel with lower GHG emissions. Buying sustainable fuels also increases market demand and encourages suppliers globally to boost production. The logistics industry needs to see the supply of sustainable fuels scale up rapidly if we are to reduce the carbon footprint of the transportation sector and help meet the world’s climate goals.

A sustainable economy is unthinkable without sustainable logistics. The book and claim system helps us move one step closer to both.

* GoGreen Plus is a value-added service to a DHL shipment contributing to decarbonization measures within DHL’s logistics network. By using alternative fuels and/or technologies DHL reduces the usage of fossil fuels in the mode of transport used for the GoGreen Plus shipment. This does not necessarily mean that the specific shipment is physically transported with the assets using these fuels or technologies. Further information, e.g. on concrete decarbonization measures is available on our DHL Group website