IAG Cargo Partners with Kuehne+Nagel and Neste to Launch First Net Zero Carbon Charter Chain with Neste MY Sustainable Aviation Fuel

(Neste) IAG Cargo, the cargo division of International Airlines Group, completed its first sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) charter chain of 16 flights from Stuttgart to Atlanta last week. Working with their partner Kuehne+Nagel, IAG Cargo sourced 1.2 million litres of Neste MY Sustainable Aviation Fuel™ from Neste. This collaboration marks the first time ever that passenger-freighter charter flights are operated with net-zero carbon emissions*.

The last of the British Airways B787-900 flights left Stuttgart on June 26, collecting on average 45 tonnes of automotive spares and other industrial goods destined for Atlanta via London Heathrow. The business has now completed over 300 automotive charters since it began its charter service last year.

The SAF was provided by Neste, the world’s leading provider of sustainable aviation fuel. Neste MY Sustainable Aviation Fuel is made from sustainably sourced, renewable waste and residue raw materials. In its neat form and over the life cycle, its use can reduce up to 80% of greenhouse gas emissions compared to fossil jet fuel use**. The SAF was blended with fossil jet fuel to comply with aviation fuel certification standards, shipped to the UK from Europe and then transported by underground pipelines into Heathrow.

John Cheetham, Chief Commercial Officer at IAG Cargo commented: “International Airlines Group was the first European airline group to commit to powering 10 per cent of its flights with sustainable aviation fuel by 2030. These charters mark IAG Cargo’s first step on that journey – I’m incredibly proud of our commitment to long-term sustainability, helping to reduce carbon footprint overall.”

“We are constantly looking at ways which reduce our impact on the environment whilst improving our customer offering and we were delighted to support Kuehne+Nagel with sourcing Neste-produced SAF to power these landmark charters, the first of many.”

Answering growing customer demand for environmentally friendly logistics, Kuehne+Nagel is proactively expanding its sustainable services portfolio with innovative and easily customised shipping options. The overall commitment so far of 12.7M liters of SAF allows Kuehne+Nagel customers to benefit from immediately available alternative fuel solutions to reduce CO2 emissions of their air freight globally.

Yngve Ruud, Member of the Management Board of Kuehne+Nagel, responsible for Air Logistics commented: “Climate change has now given new urgency to the search for cleaner, renewable fuels as they are currently the most effective measure to achieve true decarbonisation in our industry. Kuehne+Nagel is committed to increase its supply of SAF as part of our ambitious Net Zero Carbon programme. Our work with our suppliers is critical here, with trusted partners like IAG Cargo playing a vital role in the attainment of our goals and by fostering deployment of sustainable fuels so our like-minded customers can ship their products CO2 neutral in an easy and transparent way.”

Jonathan Wood, Vice President Europe, Renewable Aviation at Neste commented: “Neste MY Sustainable Aviation Fuel provides immediate emission reductions and is already available today, playing a pivotal role in decarbonising the aviation industry. We continue to scale up our operations and will have the capacity to produce some 1.5 million tons of SAF annually by the end of 2023.”

Neste aims to work with customers to help them reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 20 million tons annually by 2030.

SAF is currently the most effective measure to significantly reduce the environmental footprint of shipping. In contrast to fossil fuels, which are exhaustible resources and release additional CO2 emissions, SAF is produced from renewable raw materials, such as biomass or waste and residues, enabling significantly reduced emissions.

*) As SAF use still produces some CO2 emissions, carbon neutrality was achieved by substituting each liter of jet fuel kerosene used with 1.25 liters of SAF. The initiative highlights the importance of joint efforts for making sustainable transportation choices and possibilities available at close-by airports to local and global industry players avoiding further emissions through trucking goods into major hubs.

**) Calculated with established life cycle assessment (LCA) methodologies, among which EU RED and CORSIA.

Neste (NESTE, Nasdaq Helsinki) creates solutions for combating climate change and accelerating a shift to a circular economy. We refine waste, residues and innovative raw materials into renewable fuels and sustainable feedstock for plastics and other materials. We are the world’s leading producer of renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel, developing chemical recycling to combat the plastic waste challenge. We aim at helping customers to reduce greenhouse gas emissions with our renewable and circular solutions by at least 20 million tons annually by 2030. As a technologically advanced refiner of high-quality oil products with a commitment to reach carbon-neutral production by 2035, we are also introducing renewable and recycled raw materials such as waste plastic as refinery raw materials. We have consistently been included in the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices and the Global 100 list of the world’s most sustainable companies. In 2020, Neste's revenue stood at EUR 11.8 billion, with 94% of the company’s comparable operating profit coming from renewable products. Read more: neste.com

IAG Cargo is the single business created following the merger of British Airways World Cargo and Iberia Cargo in April 2011. Following the integration of additional airlines into the business, including Aer Lingus, Vueling and Level, IAG Cargo now covers a truly global network. In 2020 IAG Cargo had a commercial revenue of €1,306 million. It has a combined workforce of more than 2,250 people. Its parent company, International Airlines Group, is one of the world's largest airline groups with 533 aircraft on 31st December 2020.

With over 72,500 employees at 1,400 locations in over 100 countries, the Kuehne+Nagel Group is one of the world's leading logistics companies. Its strong market position lies in sea logistics, air logistics, road logistics and contract logistics, with a clear focus on integrated logistics solutions.

With Net Zero Carbon programme, Kuehne+Nagel actively contributes to the reduction of CO2 in transport and logistics worldwide. In addition to being CO2 neutral for all own emissions (scope 1-2 of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol – GHG) since the end of 2020, the company has also decided to proactively address the CO2 footprint of the transportation services performed by its suppliers, targeting comprehensive CO2 neutralisation (Scope 3 GHG) by 2030. READ MORE