DHL announced that its Global Forwarding unit has neutralized the carbon emissions of all its less-than-container load (LCL) ocean freight shipments since January 2021.

In a statement, it noted that DHL has reduced over 36,300 tons of Tank-to-Wheel CO2 emissions for all LCL ocean freight shipments port-to-port.

"As one of the leading ocean freight forwarders worldwide, DHL is committed to making ocean freight sustainable and clean in line with Deutsche Post DHL Group's 'Mission 2050 - Zero Emissions,'" it said.

In addition, DHL also said 52,800 tons of C02 emissions (Well-to-Wheel2) related to pick-up and delivery from and to the ports were compensated with offsetting over the last year.

"Since the start of our decarbonizing process for all our LCL ocean freight shipments, we have been using sustainable marine fuels for 370,599 shipments. We are now providing our LCL GoGreen Plus service to more than 2,500 customers, supporting their carbon emission goals without extra costs," said Dominique von Orelli, global head of Ocean Freight at DHL Global Forwarding.

Orelli noted that this marks an important step for DHL Global Forwarding and validates that the company is "on the right track" in driving sustainable logistics solutions in the maritime sector to contribute to climate protection.

"Following this great success we have decided to continue the decarbonization of all LCL shipments for our customers at no extra costs," von Orelli added.

Net zero goal by 2050 

As part of its ESG strategy, Deutsche Post DHL Group aims to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 (Mission 2050) and strives for clean operations for climate protection.

In the logistics industry, ocean freight is one of the fast-growing sources of greenhouse gas emissions. For this reason, DHL said it is committed to providing sustainable logistic solutions and access to sustainable fuels that will decarbonize the entire logistic sector.

DHL noted that its GoGreen Plus service paves the way to transition to clean and sustainable ocean and air freight transportation — thereby CO2 emissions are reduced in both air and ocean freight.

It said the remaining part of the supply chain is made climate neutral by full lifecycle emission compensation.

"The product offering GoGreen Plus is part of the Group's mid-term sustainability roadmap for 2030 and contributes to the sub-target of having at least 30% of fuel requirements covered by sustainable fuels," DHL said.

It added that to reduce CO2 emissions in line with the Paris Climate Agreement, the Group will spend EUR7 billion in sustainable fuel and clean technologies by 2030.