How to successfully scale up Sustainable Aviation Fuel solutions

Expanding the use of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) faces the classic ‘chicken and egg’ challenge. The costs remain high, which keeps demand low. Although more than 490,000 flights used SAF in 2023 – up from only 500 in 2016 – SAF is still a mere 0.2% of global jet fuel use. If demand doesn’t go up. SAF producers won’t invest in new production capacity.

The problem is that many buyers are unwilling or unable to pay the high prices needed to fund these investments, making it difficult for producers to ramp up production and take advantage of scale and lower the cost so that SAF competes with fossil fuels.

So, how do we resolve this predicament? The short answer is through partnerships. SAF is simply the best option for reducing air transport emissions right now, but we have to work together to drive a massive increase in production.

At DHL, that’s precisely what we’re doing. We want the SAF production to increase – and the price to decrease. That’s why we’ve spent the past few years joining forces with like-minded companies and organizations to achieve this goal.

Examples of our SAF partnerships:

• DHL Express and Shell sign a one-year deal for delivery of 31.2 million liters of SAF (2024).
• DHL Express and Standard Chartered Bank form a strategic partnership to co-invest in SAF (2024).
• DHL Express and World Energy sign a seven-year agreement to purchase 667 million liters of SAF (2024).
• DHL Global Forwarding partners with IAG Cargo to buy 11.5 million liters of SAF in 2023, adding another 60 million liters in 2024.
• DHL Express collaborates with bp and Neste to buy more than 800 million liters, two of the largest SAF deals to date (2022).
• DHL Global Forwarding starts a three-year cooperation with Air France KLM Martinair Cargo to purchase 33 million liters of SAF (2022).

In addition to these commitments, we’re a proud partner of Airports of Tomorrow, led by the World Economic Forum (WEF), which aims to address the energy, infrastructure, and financing needs of the aviation industry’s transition to net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

One important development that is helping facilitate the purchase of SAF is the ‘book and claim’ (learn more below) system based on the SAFc Framework introduced by the WEF. In 2021, we joined United Airlines’ Eco-Skies Alliance to test the SAFc concept and it’s proving to be a game changer.

As mentioned above, we must collaborate across the aviation value chain to make this model a real game changer. Together with our partners, we’re purchasing the available SAF and placing orders for more – orders that suppliers don’t even have the capacity yet to fill. Why are we doing this? Because it’s the only way to stimulate the changes needed to create an SAF marketplace – to drive up the demand for and, in turn, the supply of sustainable aviation fuel.

For example, the United Airlines’ Eco-Skies Alliance was a first-of-its-kind program to reduce our environmental impact while helping United make flying more sustainable. In 2021, the alliance purchased the SAFc for 3.4 million gallons (12.87 million liters) of SAF. That eliminated about 31,000 metric tons of GHG emissions over the lifecycle, compared to the use of conventional jet fuel.

And that was just the start. With bp and Neste alone, we will save approx. 2 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions (CO₂e ) over the aviation fuel lifecycle. With that amount, we could fuel 1,000 flights per year between our Cincinnati (USA) and Leipzig (Germany) hubs for about 12 years! And together with World Energy, we will avoid approx. 1.9 million metric tons of CO₂e over the lifecycle. That’s equivalent to a fully loaded Boeing 747-400 jumbo air freighter circumnavigating the globe 3,700 times!

Participating in programs like United’s Eco-Skies Alliance and working together with trusted partners like Air France KLM Martinair Cargo, bp, Neste, IAG Cargo, and World Energy is one pillar of carbon insetting, which aims to reduce and neutralize the emissions where they are emitted. It also aligns perfectly with our plans to increase our use of SAFs to more than 30% by 2030. If others do the same, the supply of sustainable aviation fuel should increase rapidly, and the price should fall accordingly.

One company alone can’t scale up sustainable aviation fuel solutions and decarbonize air transport, but we can help lead the industry in the right direction. We also can’t create a lasting positive impact without a clear strategy. That’s why our roadmap to sustainability includes our commitment to clean operations for the environment and remaining the frontrunner in low-carbon logistics is at the heart of our company strategy. By 2050, we aim to reduce all logistics-related emissions to zero. And we are well underway. Compared to 2007, we have improved our carbon efficiency by 37%.

Collaborating with committed partners and offering customers more sustainable solutions is all part of the plan – and each partnership is an all-important milestone on our own sustainability journey.