SWEDEN’S MOST SUSTAINABLE LOGISTICS COMPANY?

Based on the Paris Agreement’s 2-degree goal, DHL has established a long-term global climate goal to achieve zero net emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050. As a large, multinational company, we work locally all over the world to contribute to the global targets.

48 % of reduction of our emissions since 2008
In Sweden, DHL Freight has worked with various biofuels and streamline of our transports, and in this way almost halved our greenhouse gas emissions per tonne-kilometer  (1.). A detailed report of how we calculate can be read in our emission declaration. The reduction is largely due to the fact that we have invested in increasing the proportion of fossil-free fuels and we have now reached a level where these account for 45% of our total fuel consumption (2.). But with a changing fuel market, we see that we need to do even more.

Analysis – measuring is knowing
The first step in reducing environmental impact is knowing how great your emissions are and where they occur. At DHL, we are constantly measuring and monitoring the environmental work of our sub-suppliers, collecting data every year for the 2,000 or so vehicles that operate throughout our Swedish network. Based on this, we produce reports that show our customers what emissions their shipments are causing.

Optimisation – collective transport for parcels
Perhaps the most important step that we can take for climate-efficient transport is to combine loads, so that the customer’s goods are transported collectively on fully loaded vehicles along with other customers’ goods. Every year, tens of millions of shipments are transported collectively in DHL’s logistics network. Compare this with a transport journey where a single vehicle drives a single product from A to B, and then maybe drives back again from B to A.

We are constantly working to increase the share of fossil-free fuels and railway journeys, and to electrify the vehicles that we can. We have also applied to the Swedish Transport Agency for permission to use longer vehicles than are currently permitted, so we can load more goods per vehicle and thereby reduce the number of vehicles on the roads. This would not only reduce our impact on the climate, but also traffic congestion.

Investment – financing of climate smart technology
With the value-added service SEND IT GREEN, DHL and its customers can compensate Swedish carriers for the extra cost per kilometre if they invest in more expensive, climate-efficient vehicles and fossil-free fuels, according to the definition of Fossil Free Sweden. When our customers choose SEND IT GREEN, the equivalent freight is reserved in the green part of our transport network – using the same principle as green electricity, but for transport.

SEND IT GREEN is contributing to a faster transition of the Swedish transport system and allowing our carriers to dare to take the risk of investing in more expensive fossil-free technology and fuels. The more shipments that are sent with SEND IT GREEN, the faster our joint journey towards a sustainable transport system will be.