Google, DHL collaborate on sustainable worldwide shipping

DHL and Google, one of the largest technology companies in the world, have announced a partnership to utilize the DHL Express GoGreen Plus service with sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).

The initiative includes express shipping of Google devices across the Americas, Asia and Europe and is part of Google’s push towards encouraging existing decarbonization technologies in air-cargo transportation.

“Google has a goal to achieve net-zero emissions across our operations and value chain by 2030,” said Omar Molina, the director of global transportation at Google. “Optimizing how we transport Google devices around the world is a key part of this journey. That’s why we’re thrilled to collaborate with partners like DHL, who share our passion for net zero. The SAF program is a big step forward in that direction.”

John Pearson, CEO of DHL Express, added, “By deploying SAF across our international network, we are pleased to offer the GoGreen Plus service to our longstanding partner Google. We are confident that this agreement and Google’s meaningful investment will encourage others to take the same initiative and drive the transition to low-emission transportation services using sustainable aviation fuel.”

The dialogue between Google and DHL Express was initiated during the DHL Era of Sustainable Logistics Global Summit held in April 2023, which brought together key decisionmakers, thought leaders and stakeholders to discuss cleaner, greener logistics.

Building upon the summit, Google chose to collaborate with DHL Express on a pilot project last June for four months utilizing SAF.

The pilot proved to be successful, leading Google to expand its partnership with DHL Express and adopt the GoGreen Plus service for its future operations.

Launched by DHL Express in 2023, GoGreen Plus uses SAF to enable customers to reduce the CO2e emissions associated with their shipments.

GoGreen Plus is currently supported by three of the industry’s largest contracts with BP, Neste and World Energy.

SAF is produced from renewable feedstocks with a sustainable energy profile including used cooking oil, waste and hydrogen.

Conventional carbon-intensive aviation fuels or kerosene are derived from crude oil.

GoGreen Plus is part of the DHL Group’s goal to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.

With around 70 percent of the company’s carbon footprint coming from its air network, sustainable air-transport solutions are important for creating sustainable logistics operations.