DB Schenker and Lufthansa Cargo will extend their weekly CO2-free freighter flights between Frankfurt and Shanghai. The joint mission will be continued throughout the entire winter flight schedule until March 2022.
In a statement, Lufthansa said Nokia has also signed up to the initiative.
It noted that every week, the global telecommunication network provider will avoid greenhouse gas emissions by using the world’s only freighter flight 100 percent covered by Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), produced from renewable waste, such as used cooking oils.
"With just a few days to go until the UN Climate Change Conference COP26, this announcement reinforces the importance of investing in sustainable aviation fuel solutions and is another step towards making global supply chains more climate friendly," Lufthansa said, adding that the fuel requirement for the flight rotation from Frankfurt (FRA) to Shanghai (PVG) and back is covered entirely by SAF.
The carrier said this saves around 174 tons of conventional kerosene every week.
Co2 reduction for winter flights
During the summer flight schedule 2021, Lufthansa noted that the initiative successfully achieved a net reduction of 20,250 tons of greenhouse gases (CO2e). In the upcoming winter flight schedule, from the end of October 2021 to the end of March 2022, another 14,175 tons are expected, Lufthansa added.
"The ambitious team goal of climate neutrality affects every business and how our customers look at their footprint also in their supply chains. Together with Lufthansa Cargo, we extend our unique offer of a regular carbon-neutral flight connection," said Thorsten Meincke, Global Board Member for Air & Ocean Freight at DB Schenker.
"The SAF full charter flight rotation is a game-changer as it goes beyond a pay-per-use scheme. We are pleased to have Nokia on board as a new major customer for our westbound flights. Together, we can avoid CO2 and take another step towards a more sustainable future."
Tommi Uitto, president of Mobile Networks at Nokia said investing in sustainable solutions is a "top priority" for Nokia.
"We can only achieve our climate targets together. Innovation and working together across sectors are key to a greener supply chain. We constantly seek to reduce our transportation and logistics carbon footprint, and air cargo is a significant contributor. This collaboration to transport our 5G equipment on carbon-neutral flights is another important step," Uitto added.
Over the next five months, Lufthansa said Nokia will be using the carbon-neutral flight offer to ship a weekly freight volume of 10 tons of communications network equipment from a production facility in Shanghai to its European hub in Tilburg in the Netherlands.
This shipment is entirely covered by SAF to reduce 100% of carbon emissions during the life cycle, avoiding any offsetting.
The end-to-end agreement with DB Schenker covers both the air and land transport of the goods from Shanghai to Tilburg. All land transport elements will be covered utilizing another advanced type of biofuel, hydrogenated vegetable oil (HVO).
"Using SAF is one possibility to fly CO2-neutral already today. We are very proud that we can extend our partnership with DB Schenker throughout the upcoming months. We strongly believe that transforming our business into CO2-neutral air freight can best be achieved when all of us join their forces," said Ashwin Bhat, Chief Commercial Officer at Lufthansa Cargo.
The announcement follows DB Schenker and Lufthansa Cargo’s launch of the world’s first CO2-neutral freighter rotation between Europe and Asia in November 2020.
Starting with the summer flight schedule in April 2021, a regular freighter line connection was brought to the market.
Currently, SAF is around three times more expensive than conventional fossil kerosene. Lufthansa noted that in the future, other types of renewable fuels will also be available.