The PPD clinical research business of Thermo Fisher Scientific plans to adopt sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), a drop-in fuel that can be used in most conventional aircraft to lower emissions from air transportation. 

The clinical research division will use DHL Express’ GoGreen Plus service. The collaboration enables the PPD clinical research business to lower GHG emissions associated with global clinical research air shipping logistics by up to 80%.

The adoption of SAF reflects Thermo Fisher’s commitment to sustainability and enhances the PPD clinical research business’ leadership in environmental innovation, which also includes a variety of initiatives such as renewable energy for powering clinical trial sites and labs.

“In clinical research, deliveries need to be made quickly, often overnight, which limits our options for reducing carbon emissions, since most packages must be air shipped,” said Leon Wyszkowski, President, Analytical Services, Clinical Research, Thermo Fisher Scientific, in a statement. “Given this constraint on changing transportation modes, our greatest short-term opportunity to reduce shipping emissions lies in using more sustainable fuels for air transport. By using SAF, we can immediately reduce our emissions from air shipments with DHL Express by up to 80%. Our collaboration with DHL Express demonstrates our commitment to enable our customers to advance clinical research quickly while mitigating the impact on the environment.”

Insetting through DHL GoGreen Plus enables customers to reduce their Scope 3 emissions, the indirect greenhouse gas emissions generated in a company’s value chain that include downstream transportation and distribution. DHL GoGreen Plus lower reduces emissions within the logistics sector and can be used by DHL customers for voluntary emissions reporting based on the “book and claim approach.”