Steep learning curve for climate action
By Marcus Schick I 6 minute read
24/04/2025
Climate action, social commitment, and sustainable corporate management are deeply rooted at DACHSER. DACHSER CEO Burkhard Eling and Stefan Hohm, the company’s Chief Development Officer (CDO), talk about what has already been achieved, the current priorities, and measures to be taken in the future.
Mr. Eling, taking climate action is part of DACHSER’s inclusive responsibility and is now part of a cross-company strategic focus program called DACHSER Climate Protection. How did this come about?
Burkhard Eling: A clear commitment to DACHSER’s core values of sustainability and inclusive responsibility has played a central role in the company’s sustainability and climate actions from the very beginning. This applies in equal measure to management and shareholders, to our employees and customers. There has been, and still is, a growing interest on the part of all stakeholders to actively do their part in climate action and, of course, to meet legal obligations with practicable solutions.
Stefan Hohm: Around ten years ago, DACHSER took specific steps to begin integrating climate action into its day-to-day logistics operations. Model projects for emission-free delivery in city centers then made a structured start. From 2019 on, we’ve expanded this commitment to include global climate action, the containment of greenhouse gases, improvements to transportation and energy efficiency, and research projects on alternative powertrain systems. After a preliminary project, we officially launched DACHSER Climate Protection in 2021 to actively shape the shift in logistics toward low- and zero- emission technologies. We also set up a separate Corporate Sustainability department at the beginning of this year, where we bundle and manage our sustainability and climate actions.
B. Eling: There’s one question that overarches everything: Where in our various business fields can we achieve our climate targets and at what speed? In response, this year we’ll be working on a zero-emission transition plan that is also compliant with upcoming reporting obligations.
Practical climate action can’t be successful if it’s single-handed. That’s why we’re constantly in close contact with our branches, the many experts from our technical departments, and a wide range of partners in our network.
What technologies is DACHSER primarily focusing on here?
S. Hohm: In the course of our work with technologies for the transport sector, we’ve gained a highly specific idea of what actually works in our network and what doesn’t. On the path to zero-emission vehicles, battery-electric drives based on renewables are becoming increasingly popular in short- and long-distance transport. We’re also working on synthetic diesel substitutes such as HVO, and have carried out various tests with hydrogen trucks. We still have far more questions than answers, however.
B. Eling: In air and sea freight, today’s alternative technology path is much less clear than it is for trucks. This is also due to the fact that ships and aircraft have significantly longer lifecycles. By the time a model’s been on the market for 20 years or more, the world has already gone through many loops of technological development, which makes investing in a technology more difficult.
S. Hohm: That’s why we and the industry tend to work with bridging technologies, such as the blending of synthetic fuels—sustainable aviation fuels or SAFs, and sustainable maritime fuels or SMFs—to reduce climate-damaging emissions. In the future, green synfuels based on methanol and ammonia are to be used in shipping. The first container ships using them have already been put into service. However, both fuels still face technical and economic challenges that shipping companies will have to solve in the coming years. From today’s perspective, achieving net zero emissions in shipping and aviation worldwide by 2050 seems very ambitious.
With the strategic focus program DACHSER Climate Protection, DACHSER has set the course for the future. In this article, you can read about the measures DACHSER is implementing as part of this program.
In the course of our work with technologies for the transport sector, we’ve gained a highly specific idea of what actually works in our network and what doesn’t.
DACHSER wants to be an impulse generator in climate action. How can it achieve this head start and what do customers expect?
B. Eling: Being one step ahead doesn’t mean just rushing forward; it also means keeping an eye on the operational feasibility and profitability of new technologies. After all, our logistics services always have to meet customer expectations in an integrated way. That also includes the desire of some customers to agree on measurable emission reductions that they can include in their own carbon footprint. In principle, such an approach is possible if both sides develop a joint understanding of, say, the additional costs that result.
S. Hohm: It’s also important to have in-depth knowledge of how to determine the carbon footprint. This applies to the calculation of all greenhouse gases in the supply chain, by which I mean Scopes 1 to 3. We need a sound basis before we can start the planning process, making targeted decisions on which measures for reducing emissions really make sense and can actually be implemented.
What other findings and experiences are you building on for the zero-emission transition?
B. Eling: We’ve climbed a steep learning curve in climate action, which is due largely to our well-trained and highly motivated team. But with all the know-how built up here, it’s also clear that practical climate action can’t be successful if it’s single-handed. That’s why we’re constantly in close contact with our branches, the many experts from our technical departments, and a wide range of partners in our network.
S. Hohm: A good example of this are our three e-mobility sites in Hamburg, Freiburg, and Malsch near Karlsruhe, where we’re working together to find solutions for the use of zero-emission vehicle technologies as well as for intelligent electricity and load management. With those branches, we make it possible to test technologies and charging infrastructures in practice over a longer period of time. It’s important and helpful for us that such tests also make it clear what doesn’t work. The advantage is that the mistakes we make at these locations don’t have to be repeated when we implement the solutions in the network.
B. Eling: On this path to structured knowledge building, it’s crucial to separate the important from the unimportant and to keep an eye on the various possibilities and starting points for the zero-emission transition. We are an impulse generator because we don’t just talk about doing something; we’ve been taking concrete action for a long time.
