Business, Feature, Freight News, Logistics

DHL Accelerates Sustainability Strategy

[ September 26, 2024   //   Gary G Burrows ]

Under logistics giant DHL Group’s strategic framework for the second half of the decade, “Strategy 2030 – Accelerate Sustainable Growth,” the company strives for 50 percent revenue growth by 2030, compared to 2023, through divisional and dedicated group growth initiatives.
With Strategy 2030, DHL Group said it is reinforcing its commitment to decarbonization and aims to align legal and management structures to ensure a lean divisional setup.
“We are ideally positioned to seize growth opportunities in a rapidly changing world thanks to our well-balanced, diversified portfolio,” said Tobias Meyer, CEO of DHL Group. “We want to grow faster and more profitably while decarbonizing our business. We will fortify our market-leading position in global logistics with a strong focus on quality and on servicing the needs of fast-growing industry segments.”
DHL said it will accelerate sustainable growth through its group growth initiatives focusing on structural tailwinds in fast-growing geographies and industry sectors, as well as e-commerce. DHL Group will also improve customer experience at digital touchpoints.
Over the past five years, “Strategy 2025 – Delivering Excellence in a Digital World” has effectively navigated DHL through global challenges including the pandemic, supply chain disruptions, and geopolitical tensions. DHL Group achieved major advancements in its ESG Roadmap goals introduced in 2021.
In a complex and volatile environment, the logistics sector is changing as well, DHL said. Geopolitical tensions are reshaping the global trade landscape. Companies are actively working to create more resilient supply chains. Moreover, the fight against climate change and demographic shifts in the workforce contribute to additional complexity.
DHL Group said its strong track record and global footprint position it uniquely to seize significant opportunities for additional growth. DHL aims to leverage its strengths and accelerate growth with the following Group growth initiatives, which will boost growth in addition to the growth agendas of the five divisions:

• Life Sciences & Healthcare. Depending on specialized logistics solutions such as temperature-controlled frozen or cryogenic storage, and the biopharma, cell and gene, and clinical trials market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate greater than 10 percent per year through 2030 and thus significantly above global GDP.
• New Energy. Renewable energy and auto-mobility sectors require dedicated logistics solutions, as DHL anticipates CAGR of more than 15 percent.
• Geographic Tailwinds. DHL Group will address the profound shift in growth of trade lanes, diversification of global supply chains, and the needs of fast-growing companies around the world.
• E-commerce. A steady growth driver for DHL Group in recent years. DHL Group will enhance its e-commerce market footprint by using the combined strength of its divisions for integrated offerings, such as combined fulfillment and last-mile delivery. The global e-commerce market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 7 percent per year through 2030.
• Digital Sales. DHL Group expects digital sales capabilities to become a standard to gain and retain customers and will further expand its digital sales program to create enhanced online transactions across the group.

‘Green Logistics of Choice’

With the goal of decarbonizing its business by 2050, DHL Group integrates sustainability into its existing strategic “three bottom lines” framework of employer, provider, and investment of choice, as the fourth strategic bottom line named “Green Logistics of Choice.”
The company aims to use its expertise to support customers in decarbonizing their supply chains, thereby gaining shares in this evolving market. Corresponding initiatives include strategic partnerships and intensifying decarbonization efforts to secure among other things a 30 percent blend of sustainable aviation fuel, or SAF, by 2030.
Meyer said DHL maintains the largest fleet of electric vehicles in the logistics industry and achieved the highest share of SAF among all airlines globally in 2023. “Investing in low emission logistics, which anticipate future market demand, will materialize into a competitive advantage as these transport solutions are becoming increasingly important to our customers,” he said.
DHL Group said it aims to align its complex legal structure with its proven management structure across divisions – express, global forwarding/freight, supply chain, eCommerce, and post and parcel Germany. The alignment intends to reduce complexity and create a more flexible and agile set-up.
The simplification includes establishing Post & Parcel Germany and eCommerce as standalone corporate entities. The name “Deutsche Post AG” will continue to be used for post and parcel Germany activities. This technical measure is not intended to bring any changes in substance to the group‘s portfolio, wage and protection agreements, management responsibilities, or other legal commitments. It will take about one to two years to be implemented.
DHL offers a comprehensive range of parcel, express, freight transport, and supply chain management services as well as e-commerce logistics solutions across 220 countries and territories worldwide. Deutsche Post is the largest postal service provider in Europe and the market leader in the German mail market.

Tags: DHL Group