Finance for the Future 2022  |  www.financeforthefuture.org
Climate Leader
What?
Deutsche Post DHL Group is a logistics company with 
operations in 220 countries and territories across the 
world. In 2017, the group committed to achieving net 
zero by 2050.
In 2019 ESG has been embedded in all three bottom 
line. Since then the Group aims to be Provider, 
Employer and Investment of Choice by delivering 
excellence in a sustainable way. The key commitments 
for each dimension of ESG (like clean operations for 
climate protection) have been revealed in 2021.
For its environmental commitment, ‘clean operations 
for climate protection’, Deutsche Post DHL Group 
has a science-based target to reduce its carbon 
emissions to under 29 million tonnes by 2030, from 
a 2021 baseline of 39 million tonnes. To meet this 
commitment, the group will invest up to €7 billion  
in initiatives such as sustainable aviation fuels, electric 
vehicles and carbon neutral buildings.
The group’s social commitment is to be a great 
company to work for, for all employees. On 
governance, the group aims to be a ‘highly trusted 
company’, which includes having robust governance 
over ESG and compliant business practices everywhere 
that Deutsche Post DHL Group operates.
Building on the strategy, a sustainability roadmap 
defines ambitious targets measured against specific 
KPIs, which have been integrated into Deutsche 
Post DHL Group’s internal management reporting 
processes and its financial reporting system.
The judges were impressed by the board’s commitment to “walk the talk”, with clearly defined 
2030 targets in place relating to sustainable fuel, electrification and carbon neutral design. It was 
evident from the range and scale of activities described that Deutsche Post DHL Group has the 
potential to make a significant impact.
Finance for the Future Awards judges
Deutsche Post DHL Group: Committing to clean operations for climate protection
Climate Leader

Finance for the Future 2022  |  www.financeforthefuture.org
Why?
For Deutsche Post DHL Group, having a large 
business with broad global reach comes with 
responsibilities: for the environment, people and 
communities in the areas where it operates. 
The group’s environmental focus on clean 
operations is driven by an understanding of where it 
has the most scope for reducing carbon emissions. 
Deutsche Post DHL Group has over 320 aircraft, 
and air freight causes the largest proportion of the 
group’s emissions.
Through the size of its commitment to clean 
operations – €7 billion – the group hopes 
to contribute to encouraging the market for 
sustainable aviation fuels, showing that there is 
demand for this product. Although sustainable 
aviation fuels are currently a more expensive option, 
Deutsche Post DHL Group believes that acting now 
will become a competitive advantage in the future. 
The group has already found this to be the case for 
electric vehicles.
Both investors and customers are showing their 
interest in sustainability too. Investors are asking 
directly about sustainability topics on investor calls. 
Meanwhile, customers are asking questions about 
the group’s ‘insetting’ initiatives – environmental 
projects that customers can participate in.
All finance teams see ESG as an opportunity to grow and to take a broader  
view of the business. This gives even more opportunity to start a dialogue  
with HR, operations, to discuss business performance and to support key 
business initiatives. It gives more transparency into the business.
Bettina Paschke, VP ESG Accounting, Reporting & Controlling, DHL Express

Finance for the Future 2022  |  www.financeforthefuture.org
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www.dpdhl.com/en
How?
Deutsche Post DHL Group is working at every level 
of the business to drive forward its strategy and 
achieve its ESG commitments: 
›	A board-level sustainability committee is in place, 
attended by the CFO. The group also developed a 
governance policy about ESG reporting to ensure 
accuracy of data and controlling of ESG targets. 
The policy defines the duties and responsibilities of 
all stakeholders involved in the process. The board 
has 30% of their bonuses linked to the group’s ESG 
KPIs, split equally among the three elements.
›	Within finance, group finance provides leadership 
over ESG and set up an ESG community for 
discussing new initiatives, implementation and 
reporting. Informal collaboration networks also 
exist among finance teams to discuss sustainability 
topics and share learning.
›	As part of the new strategy, responsibility for 
ESG reporting and KPIs shifted to finance teams. 
Finance also contributed to developing the new 
sustainability roadmap and setting KPIs for the 
three ESG commitments. To help prepare finance 
teams for their enhanced role in sustainability, 
Deutsche Post DHL Group held an ESG day in 
2021. A newly developed online training and 
regular ESG for Finance newsletters are are shared 
to increase the capacity of finance staff.
›	To meet the clean operations commitment, 
Deutsche Post DHL Group aims for its aircraft to 
use 30% sustainable aviation fuels by 2030. The 
group is also expanding its number of electric 
vehicles over time, buying electric vehicles when 
it increases or upgrades its fleet. The final element 
of clean operations is making sure that all new 
buildings are carbon neutral by design.
›	These investments into clean operations are 
supported by changes to the group’s investment 
process. At group level, more information now 
needs to be included in business cases for 
investments to show that the investment is in line 
with the group’s ESG requirements. This approach 
has been cascaded down to other divisions of the 
group. The group also takes into account whether 
new investments are aligned with the  
EU Taxonomy.
›	Deutsche Post DHL Group includes its ESG KPIs in 
the group planning process. Finance has provided 
support to break down the group’s ambitions into 
clear operational goals, supported by detailed 
planning and budgeting.
›	Alongside this, reporting against the ESG KPIs has 
been connected to the Deutsche Post DHL Group’s 
finance system. The finance system is now a single 
source of truth for both financial and non-financial 
reporting. This enables group finance to present a 
comprehensive monthly report to the CFO.