DHL Express, a logistics giant, has entered into a significant long-term agreement with World Energy, a provider of clean energy and renewable fuels. This seven-year deal, extending through 2030, involves the purchase of around 668 million liters of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) through sustainable aviation fuel certificates (SAFc), marking one of the largest SAFc agreements in the aviation industry to date.
DHL’s commitment to scaling the use of sustainable aviation fuels is a core component of its Sustainability Roadmap, launched in 2021. The roadmap includes a series of decarbonization and environmental sustainability commitments, with a target of using at least 30% SAF blending for all air transport by 2030.
Last year, DHL Express secured two of the largest-ever sustainable aviation fuel deals, sourcing over 800 million liters of SAF from suppliers bp and Neste over the next five years. DHL is also actively engaged in a collaboration to pioneer and test a new system for tracking and reporting emissions reduction in air travel using SAF.
The SAFc agreement with World Energy follows a “Book & Claim” approach, allowing the separation of the fuel’s environmental attributes from the fuel itself. This approach ensures accurate emissions reductions associated with each credit, verified by a third party. It also avoids the logistical challenges and emissions associated with physically transporting the fuel. Instead, the fuel will be supplied to airports in the Los Angeles area near World Energy’s production facility, and DHL will receive a certificate for reducing its Scope 3 emissions.
This agreement is expected to reduce approximately 1.7 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions over the aviation fuel lifecycle, equivalent to about 77,000 annual carbon-neutral DHL flights in the Americas for one year.

