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Sustainable fuels—Driving a low-emission future

Reduce your carbon footprint

Discover sustainable fuels like biofuel and SAF that power your shipments while minimising emissions and environmental impact.

Working toward a sustainable future

The majority of CO2e in transportation comes from burning fossil fuels. The logistics industry is taking great strides to achieve reductions and use more low-emission alternatives.

The advantages of sustainable fuels

Biofuels and SAF significantly reduce your carbon footprint, helping you reach goals faster.

Customisable options let you easily incorporate sustainable fuel into your supply chain without disrupting operations.

Enjoy consistent quality and availability of sustainable fuels worldwide, ensuring reliable and efficient logistics operations.

Include biofuel in your sustainability strategy across all transportation modes. Reduce your carbon footprint by powering your shipments with low-emission alternatives.

Whether you choose sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), sustainable maritime fuel (SMF) or hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO), these renewable or waste-derived options emit considerably less CO2.

The benefits of using biofuels

Lead the way to low-emission transport while fulfilling reduction targets
Solutions are available on all routes and for all modes worldwide
Streamline alternative fuel usage with one point of contact

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Sustainable fuel basics

Closely resembling conventional fuel options, these are the most effective measures for reducing your carbon footprint.

Sustainable fuels are defined as renewable or waste-derived and must meet specific criteria. If seeds or vegetables are used as feedstock for producing these fuels, they have to comply with comprehensive standards (like ISCC and RSB) and ensure food safety certification.

Sustainable fuels can be categorised by production technology or feedstock type, primarily as biomass fuels or synthetic eFuels. Currently, only biologically produced sustainable fuels are commercially available.

The limited availability of biomass means bio-based SAF cannot meet global demand, but synthetic fuels can bridge this gap. These are produced using renewable energy and made from carbon dioxide and water, both of which are abundant resources.

Air and Maritime fuels

SAF and SMF are essential for achieving the industry’s long-term emission targets by 2050.

In marine logistics, low-carbon fuels like ammonia and methanol are in advanced development, with some methanol-powered vessels on order. However, fully CO2-neutral container ships for global routes are still 5-10 years away.

Produced without the constraints of biomass supply, they can reduce emissions by up to 100%. However, their production is energy-intensive and costly compared to fossil fuels, necessitating improved fuel efficiency alongside their introduction.

Available biofuels can reduce CO2e up to 94% compared to fossil fuels throughout their lifecycle.

Is sustainable fuel entirely carbon neutral?

Biofuels are not yet entirely carbon neutral due to the emissions from growing, harvesting, transporting and producing the fuel.

Plants used as feedstock absorb CO2 during growth, and the same carbon is released when the biofuel is burned, making it part of the natural carbon cycle.

Explore sustainable solutions by mode

Sea Logistics

Discover our sustainable solutions for reducing your sea freight transportation emissions.

Air Logistics

Power your air shipments with sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and minimise your carbon footprint.

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Road Logistics

Explore HVO and electric vehicles to reduce CO2 in road transportation.

Sustainable fuels by mode of transportation

In sea freight, biofuels are usually blended with conventional fuels by up to 30%. It is possible to run marine engines on 100% biofuel.

Canada Steamship Line (CSL) has been testing biofuel effectiveness since 2019. By the end of 2023, they completed 75,000 running hours with B100 (second-generation waste-based biofuels) without engine modifications.

Following the same principle as air freight, Kuehne+Nagel offers the Mass-Balance-Concept, allowing for fully traceable biofuel contingents to cargo shipped on a regular fuel vessel.

In theory, aircraft could operate entirely on SAF; however, regulations currently limit SAF blends to a maximum of 50%. Due to limited availability and costs, most aircraft typically use less than 1%.

Operating under a book and claim sourcing model, we promote SAF adoption without the constraints of blending limits.

Instead of transporting SAF to a specific airport and aircraft, it goes into the fuel system at an airport closest to the production facility. We can purchase any volume of SAF without technical limits and link it to the corresponding reduction in carbon emissions.

HVO is seen as a key bridging technology for trucks and is expected to grow in demand. It can reduce CO2 emissions by up to 90% and is already used in our fleet on select European routes.

Trucks can operate 100% on HVO without modifications or performance loss. The fuel serves as a ‘drop-in’ alternative to fossil diesel, requiring no cleaning of existing oil stocks. For instance, a typical 3,700 km round trip needs just one refuelling at the start.

Sustainable fuels—Driving a low-emission future

Reduce your carbon footprint

The advantages of sustainable fuels

Achieve your emissions reduction targets

Seamless integration into existing operations

Global availability and consistent quality