Over the course of one year, DHL Express, one of the world’s leading international express service providers, registered more than 12,000 customers in the Asia-Pacific (excluding China) to its GoGreen Plus service.

This includes more than 2,800 companies with a contractual agreement to use GoGreen Plus. The remainder comprise customers who have opted to select GoGreen Plus as their shipping service through MyDHL+, the company’s online shipping and tracking platform.

Introduced in February 2023, GoGreen Plus allows customers to reduce, or “inset”, the carbon emissions associated with their international shipments using Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF).

Insetting through GoGreen Plus enables customers to reduce their Scope 3 emissions, the indirect greenhouse gas emissions that occur in a company’s value chain, including in downstream transportation and distribution.

The GoGreen Plus service is currently the only method available in the global express logistics industry that enables customers to utilize SAF to reduce emissions related to their shipments.

“We have a clear mission of achieving net-zero emissions in our logistics operations by 2050, and we want to enable our customers to join us on this journey,” said Mr. Ken Lee, CEO for Asia Pacific at DHL Express. “Though GoGreen Plus was only launched a year ago, we have observed positive adoption rates, indicating that the market was ripe for such an offering. There has been a rapid pickup rate among businesses and consumers.”

“This is aligned with a DHL survey that found that more than one in three (38 per cent) of online shippers in the Asia-Pacific are prepared to pay more for a greener delivery option,” he went on. “The high uptake of GoGreen Plus among individual shippers demonstrates a strong willingness to pay more to use SAF to decarbonize their shipments.”

Vietnamese consumers willing to invest in SAF

While companies have already committed to cutting their carbon footprint and running operations sustainably, a report reveals that many companies in the Asia-Pacific still fall short in their Scope 3 emissions measurement efforts. With GoGreen Plus, customers can tailor the amount of CO₂e they intend to reduce.

This is achieved using the “book and claim” approach, where DHL will pass on the environmental benefits to customers on the GoGreen Plus service. As a result, customers can report their emissions following the Science Based Target Initiative (SBTi) philosophy.

Of the more than 2,800 companies that signed up for GoGreen Plus, over 2,000 have opted to cut 30 per cent of carbon emissions for their time-definite international shipments through SAF. Furthermore, some have committed to even higher reductions, such as the AFFIN Group from Malaysia, the CHIMEI Corporation from Taiwan (China), and SCREEN Semiconduction Solutions from Japan, which have all committed to reducing their carbon emissions via SAF.

In Vietnam, the adoption of DHL Express’s GoGreen Plus solution has been noteworthy. Over 250 customers have opted to reduce 30 per cent of their carbon emissions for their time-definite international shipments through SAF. Industries showing a keen interest in this environmentally-friendly initiative primarily include Consumer Retail & Fashion, Technology, Financial Institutions, and Engineering & Manufacturing.

Vietnam’s Asia Commercial Joint Stock Bank stands out as the first bank in Vietnam to sign up for DHL’s GoGreen Plus service, aiming to reduce close to 100 per cent of carbon emissions on their international express delivery shipments. This demonstrates a growing commitment within Vietnam’s business community towards sustainability and reducing carbon footprints in logistics operations.

“Among our customers, we are seeing a huge appetite for solutions that could reduce carbon emissions on their shipments,” said Yung C. Ooi, Senior Vice President for Commercial, Asia Pacific, at DHL Express. “Our GoGreen Plus service is one such way, and we are pleased to see that it is positively received. In fact, our customers are not merely choosing a service but also championing a commitment to a greener and more responsible future.”

GoGreen Plus instrumental in reaching net-zero emissions

The GoGreen Plus service is made possible through strategic collaborations with bp and Neste to procure more than 800 million liters of SAF as well as an agreement with World Energy to purchase approximately 668 million liters of SAF via sustainable aviation certificates.