DHL Group has announced a significant expansion of its partnership with IAG Cargo, the cargo division of International Airlines Group. A new five-year agreement, alongside a 2025 renewal, will facilitate the uplift of approximately 240 million liters of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) at London Heathrow Airport through 2030.
This collaboration is designed to drastically lower the carbon footprint of DHL Express shipments transported via British Airways, marking a major step in the decarbonization of long-haul air freight.
Massive Reductions in Lifecycle Emissions
The agreement focuses on reducing Scope 3 emissions, which are often the most challenging for shippers to address. By securing a steady volume of SAF, the partnership expects to achieve the following environmental milestones:
- Emission Cuts: An estimated lifecycle reduction of 640,000 tonnes of CO2e for DHL Express.
- Group Impact: When combined with a new framework for DHL Global Forwarding (DGF), total emissions reductions could exceed 1 million tonnes of CO2e.
- High-Efficiency Fuel: The SAF used—derived from sources like used cooking oil—is ISCC-certified and reduces lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 90% compared to traditional fossil fuels.
A Cross-Divisional Strategy for Sustainability
The deal goes beyond a single business unit, integrating both DHL Express and DHL Global Forwarding into a unified procurement strategy. This approach ensures that DHL can offer consistent, future-proof sustainability options to its customers worldwide.
Travis Cobb, EVP Global Network Operations & Aviation at DHL Express, noted that the agreement demonstrates the power of pooling efforts between industry leaders to drive concrete environmental results on major trade lanes. Echoing this, Camilo Garcia Cervera, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer at IAG Cargo, emphasized that such partnerships are critical to scaling SAF production and keeping global trade moving sustainably.
Supporting Global Climate Targets
The initiative aligns with the ReFuelEU Aviation Regulation and the broader “Fit for 55” package, which aims for a 55% reduction in emissions by 2030. For DHL, this agreement is a building block toward its own target of using 30% SAF in all air transport by the end of the decade.
While SAF currently remains significantly more expensive than conventional jet fuel and represents a small fraction of global usage, long-term agreements like this provide the predictable demand necessary to scale production and lower costs for the entire logistics industry.
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