Hapag-Lloyd and DHL Global Forwarding have signed a three-year framework agreement to decarbonize supply chains through the purchase of Scope 3 greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions. The reductions will result from the use of sustainable marine fuels made from second-generation biofuels produced from waste and residue feedstock.
As part of this agreement, the first order of 25,000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) well-to-wake (WTW) emission avoidance was successfully executed in July 2025.
The partners will use a Book-and-Claim system that allows a company to pay for sustainable fuels to be used in their shipment. Many shipping companies struggle with inadequate supply and distribution of sustainable fuels. With book-and-claim, a shipping customer can pay a shipping company either to use the sustainable fuels in their own vessels, as in this agreement, or to cover the cost in another company’s vessels. In either case, the company paying for the fuel reaps the benefit of reducing Scope 3 emissions.
“The signing of this three-year framework agreement marks a crucial step toward realizing our shared vision of a decarbonized shipping industry,” said Casper Ellerbaek, Head of Global Ocean Freight at DHL Global Forwarding. “We are thrilled to partner with Hapag-Lloyd in driving the adoption of sustainable marine fuels and the book and claim mechanism, ultimately empowering our customers to achieve their climate goals.”
Both companies are committed to ambitious decarbonization targets, with Hapag-Lloyd aiming to achieve net-zero fleet emissions by 2045 and DHL striving to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. Offering sustainable logistic solutions to customers is a key lever to achieve these goals.
Hapag-Lloyd has been deploying second-generation biofuels since 2020. Since 2023, it has been offering its customers the possibility to claim the resulting emission avoidance through “Ship Green,” its emission-reduced ocean transport product utilizing biofuel blends instead of traditional fossil marine fuel oil (MFO).
DHL’s GoGreen Plus products provide decarbonized solutions across DHL’s core offerings by leveraging sustainable fuels and low carbon technology. GoGreen Plus helps customers with voluntary reporting of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and progress against their decarbonization targets.
